Nobody expected a tuning house to win a design award like this
BRABUS took home Red Dot Design Award 2026 for the BODO Gran Turismo coupé, a tribute to founder Bodo Buschmann and a sign of where the brand is really heading.
Nobody argues about it anymore: BRABUS knows how to impress a jury. This time the company has won the Red Dot Design Award 2026 for BODO — an exclusive Gran Turismo Coupé dedicated to company founder Bodo Buschmann. The award was granted in the Product Design category, which means the jury judged more than just visual drama. They judged the product as a whole.
This is already BRABUS’s fourth Red Dot. First came the BRABUS Marine Shadow 900 Superboat series in 2020. Then the Signature Night presentation was recognized in 2024. A year later, the jury picked the BRABUS BIG BOY motorhome. Now BODO joins that list — a project that means far more to the brand than an ordinary Mercedes tuning job.
BRABUS moved past the “more power, more carbon” formula a long time ago. The company now has yachts, motorcycles, real estate, accessory collections and armored vehicles. BODO works as a showcase for that new role: not just upgrading a customer’s car, but selling an entire world of expensive, personalized transportation.
That’s exactly the point of the award. In the luxury tuning market, a 900-horsepower engine, black carbon trim or a wild leather interior barely turns heads anymore. Mansory, Novitec, TechArt and others have been playing the same visual-aggression game for years. BRABUS is trying to plant its flag somewhere higher — in the territory of the design object, where a car becomes part of its owner’s personal identity.
For the buyer, that status doesn’t make the car any more practical. But it directly affects liquidity and collector value. Limited-run BRABUS projects sell not just on performance, but on recognizability, history and rarity. BODO adds an emotional layer on top of that: a direct link to the founder himself.
The Red Dot doesn’t change a single spec on the car. But it shows exactly where BRABUS is headed: from tuning workshop to a full luxury brand with cars, boats, motorcycles and a visual language all its own.