Isdera

Isdera or Ingenieurbüro für Styling, Design und Racing (English: Engineering Company for Styling, Design and Racing) is a privately run German specialty service provider based in Saarbrücken, with a design subsidiary in Shanghai, China. The company was founded and formerly based in Leonberg, Germany. Each high-performance sports car was hand-built by a small team of craftsmen, and the only way to purchase a brand new Isdera was to call the CEO directly. Each vehicle was custom built for its original buyer.

History
In order to seek a job at one of the automotive companies of Germany, Eberhard Schulz built his own car in the garage of his home in 1969 called the Erator GTE. He drove the car to Porsche's and Mercedes-Benz's headquarters and was subsequently offered a job at Porsche in the design department in 1970. In 1978, Schultz left Porsche and joined the b&b company where he would go on to design the Mercedes-Benz CW311 concept which was touted as the successor to the Mercedes-Benz 300SL. The concept was built and promoted by b&b and had Mercedes badging after approval from the manufacturer.

Isdera was founded in 1982 in Leonberg, Germany with the intent to put the CW311 into production after a deal with Mercedes-Benz. Its first car, called the Spyder which was an open top sports car based on the CW311, was presented in the same year. The Spyder was powered by a modified Mercedes-Benz Inline-4 engine generating 185 PS. A new variant having an uprated 3.0-litre Inline-6 engine was introduced in 1987. The Spyder was renamed as the Spyder 033i and the Spyder 036i to indicate the difference between the offered engines and the use of electronic fuel injection in the engines (with the "i" designation).

John Delorean and Fred Dellis met with Eberhard in 1983 to license production in the United States. Here is the picture taken in 1983 with Fred Dellis and Eberhard Schulz in Loenburg, Germany when they signed the agreement to license production of the Isdera, as a new Delorean. Fred Dellis /JZD had negotiated a funding package with the Current Louisiana Governor,Dave Treen. The plant was to be located in Monroe,Louisiana on a 425,000 square foot plant on a 182 acre site. Fred Dellis /JZD had negotiated a funding package with the Current Louisiana Governor, Dave Treen. But then politics got in the way. From 1984 to 1988, Edwin Edwards, became the governor and was repeatedly accused of corruption. In 1988, a new governor, Buddy Romer,was elected and canceled everything.

The CW311 would finally see production in 1984 as the Imperator 108i. The Imperator 108i was offered with a choice of Mercedes-Benz V8 engines having different displacements, ranging from 5.0-litres to 6.0-litres. Some engines were also tuned by AMG. The car received a facelift in 1991 which added changes in ventilation to improve cooling, some visual changes and changes to the exhaust system to pass stringent safety tests. A total of 30 Imperator 108is would be made before production ended in 1993.

In 1993, Isdera designed the Commendatore 112i, which was to be a successor to the Imperator 108i. It had many advanced and unique features at the time such as two sets of gull-wing doors, a velocity-sensitive electronic chassis that lowers the car at high speeds, and an automatic air brake. The Commendatore 112i could accelerate from 0 to 97 km/h in 4.0 seconds, and had a top speed of 342 km/h. The car had a mid-mounted Mercedes-Benz 6.0 L V12 engine generating 408 PS and a 6-speed manual transmission. The car weighed 1450 kg. The 112i was featured in the 1997 video game Need for Speed II.

Isdera planned a limited production run of the Commendatore 112i like its predecessor and quoted that each car would take six months to complete. The car was not functional when it was introduced. The development of the car reportedly cost a total of €4,000,000. This combined with the ongoing economic recession in South Asia, particularly the bursting of Japan's bubble economy, pushed the company into bankruptcy shortly after the car's introduction as the major investments came from Japan. The company was then bought by Swiss investors under whom Schultz completed the car in order to make it driveable on the road.

In 1999, the Commendatore 112i was updated and renamed to "Silver Arrow C112i" by the new management. On the exterior, the updated car had conventional side-view mirrors and had silver five-spoke Mercedes-Benz alloy wheels instead of the gold BBS units. The engine was a 6.9-litre Mercedes-Benz M120 V12 unit, which generated a total of 455 kW. Interestingly, there was no Isdera badging on the car and it had Mercedes-Benz badging instead. The Silver Arrow C112i was unveiled at the 1999 Frankfurt Motor Show.

The Silver Arrow was bought by a Swiss businessman Albert Klöti at a price of €1,500,000 in 2000. Albert kept the car for 5 years after offering it on eBay for sale in October 2005 for US$3,000,000. The car failed to sell at the auction.

In 2006, Isdera introduced the Autobahnkurier AK116i, a retro-styled vehicle based on the Mercedes-Benz W126 S-Class and powered by two Mercedes-Benz V8 engines – one for each axle – from the W126 series 500 SE. The resulting powerplant is a 10-litre unit rated at 600 PS and 900 Nm of torque. The top speed was limit to 242 kph due to excessive fuel consumption of the massive engine over speeds of 250 kph. The design which resembled a touring car from the 1930s, was inspired from the Bugatti Royale and the one-off 1936 Mercedes-Benz 540K Autobahn Kurier. The car featured a full leather interior with creature-comforts and a marble dashboard.

In 2016, Isdera bought back the Silver Arrow C112i from Albert Klöti, restored the car back to its original form and name and made appearances at motor shows. Subsequently, on 13 February 2021, the Isdera Commendatore 112i was sold at auction at Sotheby's France in Paris for 1,113,125 EUR.

In 2017, Isdera entered into a partnership with Chinese electric vehicle startup WM Motor to design and produce electric cars. In 2018 the Isdera Commendatore GT was developed to support the marketing activities of WM Motors for the EX5 Pro which was designed by Isdera and co-branded Isdera. Both cars were unveiled together at the Auto China 2018. Like preceding Isdera automobiles, the GT also employs gull-wing doors. The co-branded Isdera EX5 Pro was produced in a small batch of only a few hundred cars and sold at the Chinese market. In 2020 the cooperation with WM Motor ended due to the financial difficulties of WM Motor.

Models

 * 1969: Isdera Erator GTE
 * 1982: Isdera Spyder 036i
 * 1984: Isdera Imperator 108i
 * 1993: Isdera Commendatore 112i
 * 2006: Isdera Autobahnkurier AK116i
 * 2018: Isdera Commendatore GT