Brabus Just Turned the Mercedes-AMG SL Into a 1,000 HP Shooting Brake

There’s not much room for improvement when it comes to a car like the Mercedes-AMG SL, but don’t tell that to Brabus.

The German tuner has just unveiled the Rocket GTS, its hardcore reimagining of one of the most iconic vehicles to wear the three-pointed star. The shop has turned the sleek roadster into an aggressively styled shooting brake with nearly 1,000 horses under the hood.

The seventh-generation SL, which was introduced in 2022, features a design that’s at once bold and sophisticated. The former descriptor can be applied to Brabus’s two-door, but not the latter. The Rocket GTS is one of the most extreme-looking cars we’ve seen this year. A carbon-fiber body kit gives the vehicle a wider stance, (much) bigger aero elements, and an all-new hard-top roof that extends to the back of the vehicle. Shooting brakes can be cool—just look at the Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato Shooting Brake, for example—but the shop’s latest is almost like a modern-day BMW Z3 M Coupé, something that won’t appeal to everyone. As usual, all the classic Mercedes branding has been replaced by the shop’s giant B badging.

The Rocket GTS is a beast in more ways than one, though. As controversial as Brabus’s design choices may be, its hard to imagine anyone taking issue with the mechanical upgrades its make to the SL. The current top-of-the-line AMG SL 63 S E Performance is a true sports car, equipped with a hybrid-assisted twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8 that generates 805 hp. Well, the shop’s version of the car is even more powerful.

The Rocket GTS pairs the SL’s 6.1-kWh battery with a brawnier twin-turbocharged 4.5-liter V-8 connected to a nine-speed automatic. The upgrade is a significant one, boosting the combined maximum output to a ridiculous 986 hp and 1,342 ft lbs of torque (the latter is limited to 1,195 ft lbs of torque to “protect” the car’s power transmission elements). Thanks to all that extra power, the shooting break can sprint from 0 to 62 mph in just 2.7 seconds and hit a top speed of 197 mph. That makes it 0.1 seconds quicker and 1 mph faster than the AMG SL 63 S E Performance.

In the market for a ridiculous powerful shooting brake? Brabus is taking orders for the Rocket GTS now. Be prepared to spend big, though. The asking price listed on the tuner’s website is €
945,763, or just over $1 million.