Brabus Shadow 800 Puts The Benz Tuner Out To Sea

Brabus is known for tuning Benzes. Smarts, too. And a smattering of other products from other automakers through its Startech line. But now it’s leaving the dry tarmac altogether and taken to the waves as well.

Stemming from a partnership with Finnish boatbuilder Axopar, the Brabus Shadow 800 is a 37-foot open speedboat that aims to put the German tuner’s famous performance capabilities on the open water.

The vessel is built around a 20-degree deep-vee hull with a low center of gravity, a nearly 11-foot beam, and a 2’9” draft. It’s clad in carbon fiber and leather, with an Alcantara headliner. It boasts all the latest navigation equipment, and even has a two-person cabin below decks.

Power is provided by a pair of supercharged Mercury engines – made in the USA, but owing nothing to the shuttered Ford division of the same name. The Verado 400R outboard engines each kicking out 400 horsepower for a very Brabus-like combined output of 800 hp. That’s said to be enough to propel the speedboat to a top speed of over 50 knots.

That’s more than 55 miles per hour, by landlubber standards – or very fast, in other words, for a water vessel. (Even faster if you tow it down the Autobahn behind a Brabus-tuned G-Class, we’d imagine.)

Only 20 initial examples of the Class B offshore speedboat will be made, each painstakingly crafted by hand. But Brabus and Axopar plan further collaborations in the future once those are all sold.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Brabus team up with a boatbuilder, either, after opening a flagship showroom in Düsseldorf with British manufacturer Sunseeker.