Brabus goes bonkers with Benz S 63, Maybach

Hyper-luxury, hyper-size cars are rarely seen in a sporty context.

Yet the latest Brabus conversions on two of the biggest cars from Deutschland – the AWD Mercedes-AMG S 63 and the Mercedes-Maybach S 650 – are not just indulgently sumptuous: They can be as quick off the mark as a top-echelon, mid-engined, exotic two-seat coupe.

Take the Brabus 900 (pictured), the reworked version of the "regular" S 650 Mercedes-Maybach for example.

With the help of a large-capacity, bored and stroked Brabus ROCKET 900 6.3 V12 engine that squeezes out enough torque, (1500Nm), to easily propel a B-Double truck, and enough kilowatts (662kW), to push the 2.4-tonne luxury sedan from zero to 100km/h in a staggering 3.7 seconds on the way to a top speed exceeding 350km/h, the S 650 has the overwhelming nature of an Airbus A380 jetliner.

The Brabus 900 is available with 22-inch wheels wearing 255/30 ZR22 tyres on the front and 295/25 ZR22 tyres on the back. A lowering module drops the height by about 15mm to fill the wheel arches nicely, while the bling factor is attended to by backlit, variable-colour scuff plates and underbody lighting that recalls US custom cars.

Along the way, passengers luxuriate in an almost inexhaustibly personalised interior (flaunting a 400km/h speedometer) with quilted-leather seats and an overload of bling including a varied-colour, optical-fibre "starry sky" roof. And a button-activated table between the rear seats conceals two Microsoft Surface 4 Pro tablet PCs with screens integrated into the seat backs.

If the Brabus 900 is a bridge too far, there's always the more conservative Brabus 700, based on a Mercedes S 63 4MATIC. Here, Brabus gets to work on the S-Class 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8, upping power to 515kW/950Nm via its B40-700 PowerXtra performance package, which brings new injection and ignition mapping, and reprogrammed electronic boost control. The result is an astonishing surge in accelerative performance: At 3.3 seconds, zero to 100km/h comes up faster than the Maybach S 650, while top speed is clearly electronically-unlimited at 300km/h. If that's not enough, a Brabus Vmax module is currently under development to make it even faster.

Suitably, there are audible aspects to the monster Brabus engines too. Electronically-controlled exhaust systems can be manipulated from the driver's seat to deliver a more guttural note. An especially quiet "coming home" mode is also, along with various tailpipe designs.

And no Brabus dynamic or comfort enhancements would be complete without the available range of aero add-ons. These include wind tunnel-developed aero components covering front and rear bumpers, the radiator grille and ground-illuminating side skirts.

Additional Brabus information is available online at the website.