If a million-dollar carbon fiber clownshoe was on your 2024 bingo card, congratulations! Claim that square because Brabus just unveiled its Rocket GTS with a claimed 1,000 metric horsepower (or 735 kilowatts, so, 985.65 hp by traditional American measure) and a sub-3 second zero-to-60 mph time.
Brabus, the German-based tuner renowned for its high-end performance mods, usually of the Mercedes-Benz variety, has redone a Mercedes-AMG SL again, but this time more bonkers. The new Brabus Rocket GTS is based on a SL63 S E-Performance, which itself is no slouch. The AMG PHEV boasts 805 hp and up to 1,047 pound-feet of torque through its 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 and 6.1 kWh battery pairing.
Brabus being Brabus ups the ante with a 4.5-liter twin-turbo V8 attached to the high-performance battery. Its combined powertrain is capable of 1,000 hp and 1,342 lb-ft of torque, but Brabus electronically limited the torque to 1,195 lb-ft to maintain some sense of sanity (i.e., “to protect the shooting brake’s power transmission elements”). Gears are shifted via an AMG-sourced nine-speed transmission.
The SL63 S E-Performance sprints to 60 mph in an estimated 2.8 seconds. The Brabus Rocket GTS is a smidge quicker, with a 0-62 mph (100 km/h) time of 2.7 seconds, and needs just 9.5 seconds to reach 124 mph (200 km/h). If you’ve got the room (and the stomach) for it, why not continue to 186 mph (300 km/h)? You only need 23.6 seconds, but you won’t fly much faster than that. Like the AMG SL63, the Rocket GTS top speed is capped at 196 mph.
Besides, at such high speeds, how can you or anyone else appreciate the looks of the thing? The Rocket GTS is all carbon fiber—inside and out. From afar, the wide-body shooting brake exhibits a dark personality. Take a closer look and, yup, not wrong. The hyper GT’s body is made entirely of lightweight, high-strength black carbon. Even the titanium tailpipes are wrapped in the stuff, as are the wheel blades. Brabus did not relay the Rocket GTS weight, but one can imagine it to be lighter than the 4,839-pound AGM SL63 Roadster PHEV.
The Rocket GTS interior is just as dungeon dark, overwhelmed in exposed carbon, black Alcantara, and slate gray leather on the soft bits and frequent-touch surfaces. Because where’s the fun in being dim and grim all the time? To enhance the already extravagant look, the gray-on-gray quilt stitching features a surprisingly soothing seashell pattern on the seat inserts, center bin cover, door panels, headliner, and cargo area. There is room for some luggage and maybe some people with the 2+2 seating configuration. But all that is added weight that’ll simply slow down your top-speed times.
If you were hoping for a different color or interior texture, you’re shopping down the wrong aisle. Then again, lots of money usually means lots of unlisted options. What is currently listed on the Brabus website is a Rocket GTS priced at about 946,000 euro, or $1 million and change at current exchange rates. At least that’s with the European VAT included. Brabus didn’t specify how many units of the Rocket GTS would be built, only that the vehicle would be a built-to-order limited edition.