Business 37
Lamborghini CEO Dismisses Chinese Electric Supercars as Lacking Emotion
Carlex’s $3.5 Million G-Stallion Hides Its Most Expensive Work on the Roof
Polish tuner Carlex Design is asking €3 million for a one-off Mercedes G-Class with a hand-shaped, hand-painted roof that took over 3,000 hours to complete, plus a maroon leather cabin and widebody kit.
By Charlotte Redford · 2 min read
Polish firm Carlex Design is asking €3 million ($3.5 million) for its latest one-off creation, a heavily customized Mercedes-Benz G-Class called the G-Stallion, which will be offered at this month’s International Hunting and Equestrian Exhibition in Abu Dhabi. The price reflects more than 3,000 hours of work devoted to a single component: the roof.
That roof began as a sheet of aluminium and was shaped by hand using traditional metalworking tools and wooden bucks. Once the form was perfected, artists spent weeks painting the panel in black, silver, and gold, creating a large depiction of a horse surrounded by intricate patterns. The result is a rolling piece of art, though one that may only be fully appreciated from above — unless the eventual owner has a mezzanine in their garage.
Carlex has built a reputation in recent years not for bolting on ever-wilder bodykits, but for using expert craftsmen to hand-paint and hand-engrave its cars. The G-Stallion follows that approach, pairing the roof artwork with a striking widebody kit that includes flared fenders, new front and rear fascias, and custom pinstriping and branding.
The cabin is arguably just as special. Seats, door panels, dashboard, steering wheel, and center console are trimmed in maroon leather, accented with real metal elements and buckles. Soft-touch Alcantara surfaces appear throughout, including across the tailgate, and hand-engraved trimmings add further detail.
Whether Carlex will find a buyer willing to hand over €3 million remains to be seen. The company has chosen its venue carefully: Abu Dhabi, where hand-painted G-Wagens at this price point are more likely to attract serious interest than anywhere else on earth.
