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Shanghai 2015: Startech Range Rover Pickup Is Red-Hot and Covered in Carbon

Until today, the Hamann Mystere was the most extreme tuning project based on the new Range Rover SUV brothers, especially in chrome. But that all changed today when Startech unveiled their Range Rover Pickup at Auto Shanghai 2015.
Startech Range Rover Pickup 24 photos
Photo: Mircea Panait
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Let's just come out in the open and admit that we love this thing. It makes no sense to turn an expensive, practical SUV into a carbon fiber pickup, but it's so interesting we'd look at it all day long. You can call us pickupsexuals or blame the G63 AMG 6x6, the point is that Startech's red rocket is going up on our cool wall.

The last time we checked, this tuning company was related to Brabus and made some of the best body kits in the world, at least when it comes to Land Rover 4x4s. That clearly hasn't changed, as the red rooster was probably the best put together car at Auto Shanghai.

But is it practical? Well, yes and no. The newly created bed is only 43 inches long (1.1 meters). At the press of a button, the tailgate drops to create another 25 inches (64 centimeters). So theoretically, an adult will fit in there length-wise. I don't know what they hunt in China, but a deer or wild boar probably wouldn't be a problem. Just don't kill any elephants... because they're endangered and you shouldn't kill them anyway.

Performance? Yeah, it has that too. Startech started with a supercharged model, so this red beast packs 526 horsepower of V8 might. That's enough to go from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 5.3 seconds and on to the typical limited top speed of 250 km/h (155 mph).

The power, in combination with a Startech suspension module that can lower ride height by 1.18 inches, should make this one of the most fun SUVs on the road. And for the record, Mercedes claims the G63 AMG 6x6 is a 6-second truck. So yeah, this thing is way faster – take that, you Germans!
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About the author: Mihnea Radu
Mihnea Radu profile photo

Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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