Brabus’s Bologna show stand may be tiny, but the brand’s presence there is huge – and very positive.

Company insiders confirmed that sales are strong, order books full and production and development teams are full of busy working on new metal. They had dashed off to Bologna from the Essen motor show, where the Brabus Tesla is on display. Developments are ongoing on that car, with more tweaking due in the future.

Brabus says it is keen to have a zero-emission vehicle, although it wasn’t as a result of sliding sales for big-engined performance cars - one Dubai based customer recently placed an order for 20 engines. It simply wants to work on an electric vehicle while Mercedes doesn’t have one to play with.

Sitting pretty in Italy instead is the V12 Rocket, a Mercedes CLS-based monster capable of a scarcely believable 227mph. At its heart is a 6.3-litre twin-turbo V12, which produces 720bhp and a ground-shaking 974lb ft of torque, but the slightly frightening latter figure has had to be electronically limited to 811lb ft to enable the car to actually move, and achieve its 4sec sprint to 62mph.

Slightly less staggering, but still clearly mad, is the Brabus Ultimate 112. It’s largely similar to the Brabus Smart we’re running as a long-termer, but power and torque are upped to 110bhp and 111lb ft. Top speed is less than half the Rocket’s, at 106mph, with 62mph reached in 9.5sec. The price slightly dwarfs our car’s, the 112 coming in at 45,900 euros – not far short of £40k at the moment. You do get a funked-up bodykit, some smart leather pews and a much-improved sat nav system, though.

Also on the stand was one Mercedes we’d think unlikely to receive the Brabus touch, the B-Class. It’s intended to impress the Italian market, though – the B being quite the hit over in Italy, which laps up its mini-MPVs.

Our insider said that Brabus is preparing a number of things for Geneva in Spring 2009, including a tuned Mercedes GLK SUV and something else, as yet unnamed. Nice to see some manufacturers are still having fun…

For more from the Bologna motor show, click here.