Turning a Mercedes-AMG G 63 into a convertible sounds straightforward until you remember that removing the roof from a large, heavy SUV also removes a rather important part of its structure.
BRABUS apparently decided that was somebody else’s problem.
The result is the BRABUS 800 Cabrio, an open-top version of the current W465 Mercedes-AMG G 63 that required more than 500 newly developed components just to make the conversion work properly.
This isn’t simply a G-Class with its roof cut away.
BRABUS developed a complete electrically operated soft-top system and had to reinforce the body to compensate for the structural rigidity lost when the original roof disappeared. The objective was to create something that still behaved like a properly engineered vehicle rather than an expensive G-Class modified with a very large saw.
Underneath, the familiar AMG V8 remains, although naturally BRABUS couldn’t leave that alone either.
Output rises to 800 hp and 1,000 Nm, allowing this enormous open-top off-roader to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 4.0 seconds. Top speed is electronically limited to 240 km/h.
Those numbers become slightly more ridiculous when you remember what you’re looking at.
The G-Class was originally developed around military and utility requirements. Decades later, somebody has turned it into an 800-hp luxury convertible capable of reaching highway speed in roughly the time many sports cars needed not particularly long ago.
Visually, BRABUS hasn’t attempted to make the Cabrio discreet.
The company’s familiar WIDESTAR body treatment gives the G 63 a broader stance, accompanied by exposed carbon components and the usual BRABUS exterior details. Large forged wheels fill the arches, while the side-exit exhausts ensure nobody mistakes this for a normal G-Class when the roof is down.
The roof itself is the clever part. Creating a convertible from a vehicle that wasn’t designed to be one introduces problems involving weather sealing, body flex, wind management and rollover protection before anyone even begins worrying about how the finished thing looks.
That’s why the claim of more than 500 new components is arguably more impressive than the 800-hp figure.
Horsepower is relatively easy for BRABUS. The company has already built Mercedes-based machines with 900 and even 1,000 hp.
Engineering an entirely new roof mechanism isn’t.
The cabin receives the usual BRABUS Masterpiece treatment, meaning customers can specify extensive leather, carbon-fiber trim and individually tailored colors and materials. With the roof folded away, all of that interior work also becomes considerably easier for everyone outside the car to see.
Which is probably not an accident.
There was a time when Mercedes itself sold a factory G-Class Cabriolet, but the modern AMG G 63 is very much a fixed-roof vehicle. BRABUS has effectively revived the idea at the extreme end of the market, adding far more power and considerably more visual aggression in the process.
Is an 800-hp convertible G-Class necessary? Not remotely.
But unlike another ECU tune or carbon-fiber body kit, this one required BRABUS to fundamentally redesign part of the vehicle.
That makes it more than another tuned G 63.
It’s the sort of wonderfully unnecessary engineering project that only makes sense once somebody is willing to pay for it.
