Often staid German premium car-maker Mercedes-Benz has turned to the sometimes-ludicrous German tuner Brabus to help build its Pullman super-limo.
Sources say Mercedes-Benz has asked the north German tuning company, which built its business around making even faster, louder and more luxurious Benz donor cars than official hot-shop AMG, to make the Pullman.
Benz believes the Pullman will be to luxury cars what the LaFerrari and McLaren P1 are to supercars, yet it has also been stymied about how to integrate its low volumes and high customisation into its own production lines.
Due in December next year, the Pullman will stretch out to around 6.4 metres and will carry optional armour plating to cope with small arms fire, though heavier protection will also be available.
With three rows of seats, it will have aircraft-style conference seating in the back and makes accommodations for security details in the front, complete with a partition between the front two seats and the rear compartment.
Brabus and Mercedes-Benz have both declined to comment on the leak, but Mercedes-Benz recently announced that it planned to build six models off the S-Class architecture, including the already-shown S-Class, the S-Class long-wheelbase and the S-Class Coupe, while the Pullman is widely thought to be the next on the list.