A couple of years ago, at the LA Auto Show, the Youabian Puma debuted to great disdain, because it is hideous. Almost as shocking as the beast’s profile, though, was its price: a Bugatti-trumping $1.1 million. Youabian Motors would not release official sales numbers, but we can’t imagine they are fantastic, as a bright blue example of the Puma has popped up for sale on JamesEdition.com, a luxury goods site, for $895,000. That’s around 20 percent off. Maybe such a discount—like the type American Eagle Outfitters gives on size XXXL boxer-briefs in ugly colors—will convince consumers that a monster truck with a convertible top yanked off a Volvo C70 is a sound purchase.
As with an oversized pair of peacock-feather dungarees, the Youabian Puma—again, a convertible monster truck—mixes utility and pleasure to grotesque effect. Everything about the car is excessive. The wheels are wrapped in 44-inch monster truck tires; the engine is a 7-liter LS7 V8 from an older Corvette Z06; the bodywork contains more bulges and frippery than a meeting of the Victorian Ladies’ Anti-Corpulence Society. At 242 inches, the Puma is a good foot longer than a Rolls-Royce Phantom; at 6800 pounds, it’s one Stone Cold Steve Austin heavier than a Hummer H2. On top of all that is an extra glazing of oddness: At the front, repurposed Volvo C70 headlights peer out between those huge offroad tires; at the rear, lamps from the last-generation Buick Enclave. The Youabian Puma is a mixed bag…of pork rinds.
According to sales material, the Youabian Puma was “conceptualized for those individuals who dare to be different than the ordinary. Those who go a step beyond achieving and dreaming the best that they can be.” There’s iconoclasm, and then there’s insanity. The Youabian Puma scoots, with all four chrome wheels, plum into the latter. Good luck with the sale.
