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Brabus is bringing back the clown shoe with this 986bhp shooting brake SL

Not satisfied with the boot space (or 0-62mph time) of your AMG GT? The Brabus Rocket GTS should solve your problems

Published: 30 Oct 2024

We absolutely adore the 'Clown Shoe'. BMW’s booted Z3 M looked a little ludicrous and paired a 3.2-litre straight-six M3 engine with a five-speed manual gearbox. It might not have been as good to drive as the E36 M3 and it sold in tiny numbers, but it’s a cult hero and we won’t hear a word said against it.

If you are desperate to criticise a strange shooting brake sports car though, may we present the new Brabus Rocket GTS.

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We still can’t make up our minds on this thing. On the one hand, we applaud Brabus for making the Mercedes-AMG SL more practical, but on the other hand there’s that rear end design. We may be a day early for Halloween, but those spoilers will be giving us nightmares for weeks.

The press release for this car proudly announces that it is “the first hyper gran turismo shooting brake with exposed-structure carbon body in Brabus history”. Bit niche but they’re not lying.

The coachbuilt body is all made from pre-preg carbon fibre and gets wide arches, new intakes and a new lip spoiler up front. At the rear there’s a monster diffuser, a Brabus high-performance exhaust with light-up tips and of course that new hatchback rear end. Oh, and you can tell it’s based on an SL because the rear lights are different to those of the tin-topped AMG GT.

In fact, this thing is based on the most powerful SL of all – the SL 63 S E Performance. Because of course it is. That means the Rocket GTS is actually a plug-in hybrid with a 6.1kWh battery and a 201bhp electric motor on the rear axle. This is Brabus though, so the accompanying twin-turbo V8 has been enlarged from 4.0 to 4.5 litres and total combined power output is now up to 986bhp and 1,342lb ft of torque. Good grief.

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That power is sent to all four wheels through the standard nine-speed auto gearbox and means the Rocket GTS will hit 62mph in just 2.6 seconds. Top speed is electronically limited to 197mph. Probably for the best. 

Those forged five-spoke wheels are 21in/22in front/rear and were custom designed for the Rocket GTS. The interior is bespoke and can be customised to your heart’s content too. Here it features a whole load more carbon fibre, lots of Alcantara and black leather. Unfortunately, Brabus has left the most important figure off its press release though. Won’t somebody please tell us how much boot space this thing has? We’re about to cancel our Skoda Superb Estate order…

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