Eterniti Artemis luxury SUV

If the recent Beijing show proves one thing, it's that motor shows are great barometers of the wealth of nations. The wealthier the nation, the higher the proportion of the show goes to garish opportunities for self-expression.

Based on this measure, China is a very wealthy nation indeed.

Just ask any luxe-brand marketer and all that glitters now resides in Beijing and Shanghai. And so they come, with their superstar co-branding and other exercises in silk-pursemanship, marked by prodigious overuse of terms like 'ultimate' and 'craftsmanship'.

Alongside Victoria Beckham's RR Evoque, the Lamborghini Urus and the lipsticked pig Bentley comes the loftily monickered Eterniti Artemis.

That might sound like a bottle of sniffy, but it's actually what its makers describe as 'the ultimate crossover'. By which they mean it's a Porsche Cayenne Turbo gussied up for dear leaders and regional controllers.

Nobody would ever call a stock Cayenne Turbo a sow's ear. But nor would they be pointing out its physical similarities to Miranda Kerr. In seeking to redress its aesthetic shortcomings, Artemis Motors of London have come up a front end like a CX-5 with mumps. And a back end like, well, a Cayenne with some extra flaps of skin.

At least in contrast to the Beckham Evoque, the work goes beyond the decor. That helps explain the price tag – at £252,000 ($393,000) it's closer to triple the price of the Porsche donor vehicle, as opposed to the mere double Posh and Land Rover are demanding for their special edition.

Why? Start with the important bits. As Eterniti points out in its press release, from the Chinese perspective this means the rear seats (want to know more? Google 'Geely Excellence'...). Here, the twin-reclining armchairs are heated and cooled, with their own iPod connections, 100mm of extra legroom and a drink chiller. Always with the chiller...

Elsewhere inside, it's 'lavishly handcrafted' in 'the finest leathers, [with] quilted undercarpets and boot trim, lambswool rugs, veneers including natural woods, piano black and carbon fibre, a choice of sunroofs and starlight roof lining, and a state-of-the-art audio system', which the company doesn't identify.

Outside come handmade carbon composite body panels and (calling all homies!) 23-inch super-lightweight forged alloy rims.

Under the hood, they've tweaked the Cayenne's 4.8-litre twin-turbo V8 engine to boost power to 441kW (up from the original 368) and peak torque to 750Nm (up from 700), taking it from 0-100km/h in 4.5 seconds (0.2 seconds better) and on to a top speed of 290km/h.

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