You know the designers of a vehicle were serious about their angling surfaces when not even the windshield escapes this treatment. Introducing the Karlmann King, a Ford-powered SUV that looks like the lovechild between an F-117 Nighthawk and the world's ugliest pickup truck.
There is a bit of truth to that description, though we wouldn't call the Ford F-550, the commercial truck the Karlmann King is built upon the "ugliest" one out there. It certainly won't win any beauty pageants, but it's not like it's designed to.
That has the pickup truck part covered, but what about the F-117 stealth fighter? No, not one piece of the famous USAF aircraft was harmed in the making of this machine, but the designers did take inspiration from the stealth technology.
Does that mean you can go speeding in this vehicle without the fear of getting caught by any speed trap? After all, it is powered by a monstrous 6.8-liter Ford V10 engine, so it should be decently quick. Well, sorry to disappoint anyone, but the King is in no rush as it can only hit 87 miles per hour (140 km/h). So, yeah, you can probably drive this flat out most of the time without spending a fortune on fines (especially since they don't say how long it takes to reach that speed, which we suspect is a lot).
The sluggishness comes from the vehicle's weight, which is almost 10,000 pounds (over 4.5 metric tons). As for aerodynamics, it's safe to say the designers didn't feel the need to bother with any of that. With a $2 million starting price, the SUV is designed for the kind of people who drive with a gas tank truck behind them. Or, you know, they simply own all the gas stations everywhere they go.
Even though the Karlmann King is made in China, its primary audience lives a bit more to the West - if you reached Europe, you've gone too far. Just have a look at the presentation video below and see for yourself.
The interior of this luxury SUV is as opulent as you would expect, with the main compartment looking more like a throne room than the inside of a vehicle. The two seats located there have access to a widescreen TV, a PlayStation 4, the mandatory refrigerator and even a Nespresso machine.
About that two million price... you can pretty much double it if you don't show any restraint when choosing the options, Fox News says. Among them is the possibility of making the Karlmann King bulletproof, which we can only assume will have a further effect on the SUV's top speed. But when not even bullets can harm you, what would the rush be?
"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie) Full profile
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