The market for luxury SUVs is becoming broader and it is that cache brands are very clear that this segment is a gold mine. Now, among the “royalty”, there is always someone who stands out more than the rest: the most expensive SUV in the world can only be one, and it is a title held by the Karlmann King.
Let’s start with the essentials, its price: according to the manufacturer’s own website, it costs 2 million dollars, that is, 1.95 million euros at current exchange rates. And that is just the starting price, since their rates can increase considerably, even exceeding three million euros.
At his side other representatives of the segment, such as the Lamborghini Urus or the Bentley Bentayga, which only cost a “few” hundreds of thousands of euros, seem even cheap.
The company announced at the time that only 99 copies were going to be manufactured, so it was going to be a most exclusive SUV. That was in 2016 and it is not known if they have all been sold or if their proposal was not well received.
The design of the Karlmann King
The King is a model that catches the eye for two reasons: its size and its peculiar design. The SUV is simply huge: it has a length of 6 meters and a width of 2.5 meters, so it is basically a mass that completely occupies the lane in which it circulates and with which tasks such as parking become certainly complicated.
With such dimensions, it is not surprising that it is a heavy model, but it is that it marks 4.5 tons on the scale, a weight that can go up to 6 tons if you opt for the optional armor offered by the brand.
It is something that matches its aesthetics, which seems at least military, making the Karlmann King look more like a tank than an SUV to use. The most striking thing is that its entire bodywork is faceted, creating volumes from cuts on smooth surfaces and giving rise to a set full of edges.
It is a menacing-looking vehicle, something deliberately sought after, to make it clear that it is not to be messed with.
The equipment of the Karlmann King
On the outside it looks military but, inside, it presents an image of extreme luxury and, in fact, even quite ornate. There are multiple customization options for the interior, but in all cases the word to describe it is probably “excessive”.
The rear is separated from the front where the driver goes. The basic configuration consists of only two seats that are actually similar to first class seats on an airplane, they are upholstered in leather, the floor materials, the door panels, etc. they are top quality, and the amount of equipment available is enormous.
Each buyer can choose what they want in their car, and the list of options is huge: fridge, coffee maker, 43-inch 4K television, satellite connection for television, DVD player, next-generation game consoles (when it was launched in 2016 they were PS3 and XBOX 360, we understand that now they will be the current ones), hi-fi sound system, etc.
In addition, the company also places special emphasis on security. In addition to the shielding, a safe can be installed inside, the windows are tinted, there is an intercom to talk to the driver, it has an alarm system, it has cameras…
The mechanics of the Karlmann King
Beneath that stunning aesthetic and utterly luxurious interior, its technical base is actually much more humble: it’s based on a Ford, specifically the F550.
However, the brand has given it a top-level engine: under the hood it has a 6.8 V10 block that develops 600 horsepower, enough to launch it from 0 to 100 km/h in 4.4 seconds, a remarkable figure considering taking into account its high weight, something that weighs it down and makes its maximum speed only 140 km/h.