Opinion: remember when a rapper bought the ugliest Maybach ever?
Published on Feb 21, 2022 at 5:58 PM (UTC+4)
by Alessandro Renesis
Last updated on May 26, 2022 at 2:59 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Kate Bain
I like Maybach just as much as the next person, but the brand has arguably suffered an identity crisis since Mercedes took over.
Daimler acquired the brand in 1960 and in 2002, when they finally decided to turn into a standalone brand, they tried experimenting with different ideas but never really landed on one and ran with it.
They treated it like a luxury brand, that much is clear, but there are various ways to express ‘luxury’ in the car world – for example, Rolls-Royce and Bugatti both scream luxury but in different ways.
In the early 2000s, they launched two wonderful and wonderfully pointless presidential sedans, the 57 and 62 (named after their respective length in metres, 5.7 and 6.2) but they failed to perform commercially and ended up becoming a bit of a fetish for rappers.
In 2005, Maybach designers and engineers decided to do something different and called Chrysler for a collaboration.
Their brainchild was the Exelero.
Believe it or not, it was loosely based on the 57 and built on the same platform, and it was supposedly designed as a testbed for a new type of tyre.
Imagine that, building a one-off 2-door coupe just to test a tyre prototype.
Back in the early 2000s, the MTV/BET era, rap music videos were the hottest thing and rappers would routinely try to outdo one another with fancy stuff in their videos. Well, they still do that, actually, but anyway…
In 2011, Birdman (also known as Baby) purchased the Exelero for $8 million.
At the time, he was the fourth wealthiest rapper in the world, so money was clearly no object.
However, his time with the Exelero was short lived, as he reportedly sold it to a German company just a few years later.
This is telling, isn’t it?
Alessandro is an automotive journalist with 10 years of experience covering supercars, automotive history, emerging vehicle technology, and luxury transportation. He wrote the first article published on SupercarBlondie.com when the website launched in 2022 and has since built a reputation for insightful reporting across the automotive and transportation industries. His expertise is grounded in hands-on experience. Alessandro has driven every Tesla model ever produced, from the original Roadster to the Cybertruck, and regularly covers the latest developments in electric vehicles and automotive innovation. His passion for transportation extends beyond cars, he has even flown a Boeing 787 Dreamliner simulator in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. His reporting spans everything from classic American muscle cars and rare automotive discoveries to luxury yachts, private aircraft, high-end watches, and cutting-edge vehicle technology. Known for his deep knowledge of automotive history and ability to uncover the stories behind iconic vehicles, Alessandro brings readers a blend of historical context, technical expertise, and first-hand experience.
