From the outside, the $2.2 million Karlmann King vaguely recalls the aggressive stance of the Rezvani Tank, and makes the latter looks somewhat tame in comparison. Inside, it actually manages to look palatial, and that’s a neat trick in a street-legal road car.
The Karlmann SUV is jockeying for mantle of most wildly and conspicuously overblown vehicle on the road, but we’re very confident the 12 examples earmarked for production—which may be optioned as bulletproof—will find buyers.
The King’s exterior gives a first impression that appears to be kith and kin to the Rezvani Tank, which sports a similarly angular body design also inspired by stealth warplanes. The King, of course, attempts to be luxe-definitive where the Tank is concerned more with selling the reconciliation between utilitarian and flashy. The King wants to wrap its occupants in the splendor of gilded unreality, while protecting them from bursts of machine gun fire (again: optional).
Which is all well and good, if you have the money to buy one—and the chutzpah, too. Because the King is the kind of object that revolutions are made of, and when the Molotov cocktails and hollowpoints start flying you’ll want to be safe and snug.
The King smugly promises both. The interiors manage to work inlay into the floors, and borrow a cue from Rolls Royce’s starlight headliner. They feature an espresso machine, fridge, and air purifier. And, imagine getting a widescreen 4K TV into the backseat of an ordinary SUV. Conspicuous, indeed.
And to think the whole thing is built on the humble chassis of a Ford pickup. Although you’d never know it, as the folks at Karlmann pack on materials that leave the vehicle weighing in at up to 13,000 pounds, despite the liberal use of carbon fiber for shell construction; the top speed produced by the Ford’s V10 is therefore reduced to less than 90 MPH. But the King is a security vehicle, above all, intended largely for urban environs.
The price? $2.16 million. Sans bulletproofing.