Brabus: how a dad's Mercedes became a $250 million empire

Transcript

This guy turned his dad's car into a $250 million empire. Meet Bodo Bushman, the founder of Brabus. In 1977, Bodo is 22 and working at his father's Mercedes dealership in Germany. Bodo loves Porsche's, but his father hates them. So he needs to drive a bends to keep his job. Then he starts taking it apart. He swaps the engine, reworks the suspension and makes an S-Class faster than any Porsche on the lot. A customer spots it and wants one built exactly like it. So Bodo registers the company, names it Brabus, and starts taking orders. By 1984, rental giant 6 orders 200 Brabus tuned cars in a single deal. Bodo builds a new factory straight off the Autobahn. Then in 1999, Mercedes buys AMG, their own performance division. And suddenly every independent tuner in Germany loses their edge. But Bodo sees what everyone else misses. While AMG is focused on a few specs picked by their management, Brabus becomes the only shop on earth where customers can build a truly custom Mercedes with zero limits. That same year, their EV12 hits 330 kilometers per hour and enters the Guinness Book of Records as the fastest production sedan on the planet. Today, Brabus operates in over 100 countries, employs 500 people, and generates $250 million a year.

Transcribed automatically from the video, so small errors are possible.