Introducing The BRABUS Shadow 500

Positioned at the very top of the 30ft sports-weekender market, The BRABUS Shadow 500 is a beautifully well-designed and captivating ‘thrill-seeker’; a boat with mesmerizing performance on the one hand, yet with comfortable, day-long cruising capability and luxurious refinement on the other.

This boat is a dual-personality 28ft powerhouse, with 50 knots+ performance, insane acceleration time and massive torque available from a combined 500hp of Mercury Marine’s latest, dual XS Pro V8 FourStroke engines. 

For every kind of customer, with individual needs, it offers both practical, versatile spaces, with plenty of creature-comforts for lazy weekends with friends and family, with the added adrenalin rush of knowing there’s a pair of powerful, lightweight, V8 Mercury Marine engines attached to the back and waiting to be unleashed at a moment’s notice!

A bold and confident design with unmistakable good looks

Attractive, angular lines with a long, low-centre-of-gravity hull matched with functional and versatile layout options for enjoying life to the full 

Sophisticated and stylish luxury throughout

Sumptuous, superior surroundings using only the best equipment, latest technology and bespoke materials available, each boat assembled with a hand-built fit & finish throughout.  

An exceptionally quick, ‘go anywhere’ driver’s boat 

Blindingly quick acceleration times, vice-like grip & handling, with a ‘kick in the back’ feeling, even from 40 knots fully loaded with eight people on board.

Axopar/BRABUS Marine shared-platform thinking

Underpinned by the successful Axopar 28 T-Top hull, with further optimised hydro-dynamics and carbon-fibre reinforcing for even better overall performance and handling

A ‘best of both world’s’ scenario, you could say. The BRABUS Shadow 500 is unique within this size range, and something that customers will find hard to replicate anywhere else. 

Summarised perfectly by BRABUS Group CEO, Constantin Buschmann, when he said: “Thanks to an outstanding initial customer reaction to our first project together with Axopar, namely the BRABUS Shadow 800 Limited Edition ‘1 of 20’, we are pleased to further increase the range, by way of the all new BRABUS Shadow 500, now available in two exclusive versions - The BRABUS Shadow 500, and the even more ultra-exclusive, BRABUS Shadow 500 BLACK OPS Limited Edition ‘1 of 28.’  

The BRABUS Shadow 500 is priced at 159,500 Euros, inclusive of engines, but exclusive of VAT, and is available in three solid gelcoat colours, including Platinum Grey, White Grey (available May 2019) and Light Blue (available from Sept 2019) and there are two seat fabric / sunpad colours to choose from including Red and Macademia. 

Introducing The BRABUS Shadow 500 BLACK OPS Limited Edition ‘1 of 28’

Hand-painted in the now iconic launch colour scheme of Gunmetal-Grey, each example forms part of a strictly Limited Edition of 28 boats for the global market. Each priced at 209,500 Euros inclusive of engines, but exclusive of VAT.

Describing the ‘no-compromise’ philosophy and higher price tag associated with the BRABUS Shadow 500 BLACK OPS Limited-Edition, Jan-Erik Viitala from BRABUS Marine, says: “Fairing, painting and polishing the Limited Edition version to the quality we require is a highly labour-intensive, skilful and painstaking process with no automation process involved that can take up to six weeks until we get the required finish we require.

“In the time it takes for us to prepare the hand-painted, superior gloss paint finish on just one BRABUS Shadow 500 BLACK OPS Limited-Edition ‘1 of 28’, we could have completed construction of thirty Axopar 28’s in the same amount of time!” 

Examples of the shared marine / automotive engineering approach that BRABUS and Axopar Boats pioneered so successfully last year include carbon-fibre reinforcement on the back of the transom and aft stringer sections, for example, and carbon-fibre parts on the dashboard and seat trims, all made in-house and supplied directly to the boat factory from the BRABUS headquarters in Germany.  

All BRABUS Shadow 500 models feature the newest marine technology available, like the ISM (intelligent steering module) with integrated trim-tab, bow-thruster and audio controls, ‘black-ti’ Titanium coatings on small items such as hinges, latches are examples of the meticulous engineering principles that signify a BRABUS Shadow 500 product.

Strong collaboration and two-way working relationships with key technology suppliers means the BRABUS Shadow range will always be the first to receive latest advances and driver aids to improve the boating experience.

Standard navigational equipment includes a single 12-inch Garmin GPSMAP 8412 Touch Chart Plotter, but this can be upgraded to a dual screen installation, with carbon-fibre instrument panel. The BRABUS logo can be seen at the back of the screen once the system is switched on.  

The package includes a RADOM Garmin Radar 18HD+ in black, onboard connectivity via a Scout Sea-Hub with WiFi / 3G / USB Mobile Router and each Shadow 500 owner will receive a Garmin Quatix5 Sapphire GPS Smartwatch as part of the extended package.   

 The World Premiere example we see today, has the T-Top shaded cockpit with optional Wet Bar package with integrated electric grill, wash-hand basin and top-loading fridge.

 Boats can be optioned either with a full Open aft deck, or Day-Cruiser Aft-Cabin accommodation package, with the interior treatment completely re-mastered by interior experts at BRABUS, including illuminated aluminium plates on the entrance threshold, ambient LED lighting, including reading lights and floor lights, quilted leather carpet on the floor, large mirror on the rear wall, an Alcantara pocket-sprung mattress on the bed and wide use of cool-grey BRABUS Fine Leather®, with red contrast stitching, on roof-panels, side-bolsters and aft wall panels.  

Walk-around side decks enable access to all areas, including a separate foredeck L-shaped seating/breakfast area, with removable table and sundeck mattresses and (if optioned) a large, cushioned sun-pad on the roof of the Day Cruiser Aft-Cabin. 

Supplied as standard on every Shadow 500 version, a fully enclosed, electric-flush toilet compartment upholstered throughout with BRABUS Fine Leather®, has a wash-hand sink and faucet, and large mirror on the rear wall. 

Inside the central cockpit there’s plenty of space to relax, unwind and dine together by way of six comfortable forward-facing seats in two rows, with the front row seats able to swivel, so that everyone can sit and face each other around a table of much larger dimensions than one would normally expect to see on a 30ft day-boat.