A little more than a decade and a half back, sporty and supercar-fast SUVs were unimaginable. But then came Porsche with its Cayenne that went on to completely transform the SUV, even forcing the likes of Lamborghini and Ferrari to jump onto the bandwagon. The next-generation SUVs with electric propulsion have shown that they will be hypercar-quick, but the combustion engine SUVs haven’t given up just yet. The Bentley Bentayga Speed and the Lamborghini Urus are both jaw-droppingly fast, but the title of the world’s fastest SUV has a new claimant. Meet the Mercedes-AMG GLE 63 S-based 900 Rocket Edition by Brabus. With a top speed of 205m mph, the German tuning company claims that it is the world’s fastest street-legal SUV.
As the name suggests, the 900 Rocket Edition has an output of 900 horsepower and 921 pound-feet of torque. The extra power was extracted by Brabus by V8’s displacement from 4.0-liter to 4.5-liter along with larger forged pistons, longer forged piston rods, and a billet crankshaft. The tuning company also equipped the engine with turbos with larger compressor units, a new fuel pump, and larger downpipes leading into a stainless-steel exhaust system. Brabus says the engine is capable of making 922 lb-ft, but the company had to restrict its output to protect the driveline components. Brabus claims the sporty SUV can accelerate from 0-62mph in 3.2 seconds.
In terms of aesthetic updates, the 900 Rocket Edition adds a lot of carbon fiber components with an exposed finish. The souped-up SUV also gets 24-inch forged wheels with carbon aero discs, which might be a polarizing design choice. The cabin is also bathed in carbon fiber along with lots of Alcantara. Only 25 examples of the world’s fastest road-legal SUV will be made and it will cost you €381,243 (about $450,000).
