Brabus Benzes were becoming more and more advanced (the company debuted the small 190 with a 276hp V-8 in 1984, a W124 E-class with a world-record-setting drag coefficient of 0.26 a year later), but the real breakthrough came in 1992 when Bodo\’s engineers started their affair with V-12 engines. The first product of this relationship was the magnificent 6.9L 501hp V-12 that was installed in the W124 500E, and in 1996 it evolved into the 574hp 7.3L beast in the Brabus E V-12 7.3S, which, with a top speed of 205 mph, rightfully gained the title of the world\’s fastest sedan. Arguably, it was the car that defined Brabus as we know it.

The company\’s ambitions stretched far beyond shuffling engines; it used the carbon-ceramic brakes as early as 1995 and showed some extraordinary quality levels with the extended May-ba-ch-like S-class years before the ill-fated limousine appeared from Mercedes. In 1999, archrival AMG purchased by Daimler Corporation, which was the best thing that could happen for Brabus; that acquisition left Brabus as the only tuner to cater to the craziest and least politically correct whims of Benz owners.

By the end of 1999, the company\’s headquarters grew to 1.2 million square feet, making Brabus far and away from the largest tuner in the world. But the Germans didn\’t rest on their laurels. They went on with launching a tuning program for Smart, which would later transform into Mercedes-backed cooperation, and a new subsidiary called Startech, where they could use their expertise to modify the cars of premium British makes. Over the following years, Bottrop has given the world noteworthy creations based on all kinds of Mercedes models, starting from the basic A-class, all the way to the Unimog all-terrain heavy truck. Currently, the most advanced cars to leave Brabus pack as much as 900 hp and 1,106 lb-ft from a twin-turbo 6.3 V-12 with sticker prices hitting as much as $600,000.