Brabus builds a bespoke, bonkers behemoth of a dune buggy

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“Just because you can doesn’t mean you should,” is clearly not a mantra the team at Brabus believes in. The company made famous for terrifically tuning Mercedes-AMG offerings has created a wild-child in its new “Brabus 900 Crawler,” aimed at desert runs done with ease.

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It’s a good thing, too, it’s intended for off-roading, since the 900 isn’t street-legal—not even close.

At first glance, you’ll see similarities to the Mercedes-Benz G63 (or “G-Wagen” for the cool kids) with its sharp lines, elevated stance, and stone-brick aerodynamics. However, the body is entirely new, consisting of high-grade carbon-fibre and perched on a ladder-frame chassis.

There are no doors. There are no windows. Be one with the sand, they say! But there is a red-painted steel-tube frame to keep you safe as you crush those trillions of grains of sand beneath 20-inch Brabus Monoblock HD forged rims, wrapped in heavy-duty Maxxis Razr off-road tires.

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The Crawler’s crazy ground clearance comes in at 530 mm (20.9 inches) thanks to portal axles, height-adjustable shock absorbers, custom-made aluminum struts, and large-diameter wheels.

Power-wise, it comes through with a twin-turbo 4.5-litre V8 engine that, in other Brabus 900 models, deals out 888 hp and 922 lb-ft. of torque. Oddly, in this application Brabus has added a cap of 774 lb-ft. All-wheel-drive via a nine-speed automatic with locking differentials round out the powertrain.

You’ll reach 100 km/h from zero in a piddly 3.4 seconds, but due to its height and the off-road tires, the max speed is electronically capped at 160 km/h (99 mph).

The interior places four seats with carbon-fibre shells upholstered in durable Silvertex fabric, employs a digital dashboard (thanks, Mercedes!) and features a waterproof and temperature-resilient 12-inch GPS navigation passenger-side screen.

With only 15 units being made, check your couch for change if you want one of these ASAP; the price in Canadian dollars is about $1,415,271 (€891,310).