Big-bucks enthusiasts annoyed that they're not the only ones at the club with a Veyron can now ensure that they arrive in total exclusivity. That's because the one-off Maybach Exelero, commissioned by Fulda to act as a high-profile demonstrator for its tire line of the same name, is now for sale. The Exelero isn't some delicate flower of a show car. Based on the Maybach 57 and powered by a 700-horsepower version of that car's turbocharged V12, the Exelero reached 218 mph at Nardo. In many ways, Exelero represents what Maybach could have and should have been -- a place where daring styling and incredible performance could merge with extreme luxury to compete with Rolls-Royce and Bentley. Instead, while the marque's sedans clearly get the luxury part of the equation right, in terms of styling, they basically work in anonymity, looking like peculiar old S-Class sedans. There's nothing anonymous about the Exelero, though, and for €5,000,000 (around $7.8 million USD), you can drive the sybaritic supercar that Daimler should have given Maybach all along.
It took over 80 years, but Volvo has hit a mega milestone with the production of its 15,000,000th vehicle. The big number was hit with a C70 convertible, which rolled off the assembly line yesterday in Uddevalla, Sweden.
Although Volvo started as SKF in 1911, it wasn't until 1927 that the company produced its first vehicle, the ÖV4, of which it made only 297 examples in its first year. Volvo's production capacity as a major automaker has, of course, long since far exceeded that rate. However the 200-Series, produced between 1974 and 1993, remains the best-selling Volvo of all time, with over 2.8 million units sold.
Get out the beer steins and lederhosen: the Bavarians are celebrating! Yesterday the 5,000,000th BMW 5-Series rolled off the production line at its factory in Dingolfing (yes, Dingolfing) less than an hour's blitz down the autobahn from Munich. The original E12 5-Series was launched in 1972 with a design penned by Marcello Gandini and was inspired by the BMW Garmisch 2002ti, which Bertone unveiled at the 1970 Geneva Auto Show. The top-of-the-line model then was the M535i, powered by a 3.5-liter six producing 218hp. Five generations later, the E60 M5 produces more than twice that from its 5-liter V10, while versions of the 5-Series are available in Touring wagon bodystyle, with diesel engines and with all-wheel-drive.
The five millionth car, pictured above, is an oil-burning 530d sedan in Carbon Black Metallic (though it looks very blue in the picture).
