Whale foreskin leather seats??? Now that's an SUV!

I have to admit, this is over-the-top, even for the conspicuous-consumption set!

This is the world's most expensive SUV - but with three bottles of the world's most expensive vodka included in the price tag, it actually appears to be a bargain.




The £1 million Dartz Prombron Monaco Red Diamond Edition has gold-plated windows, pure tungsten exhausts, and the speed gauges are encrusted in diamonds.

The seats are not for the squeamish. They are made of one of the softest materials around - leather from a whale's penis.

And, just to send the bling factor right through the roof, this SUV also comes complete with an exterior bulletproof Kevlar coating.




But that's nothing compared to the vodka that comes with it.

The car company has thrown three bottles of Russo-Baltique, the vodka brand it created this year to mark its 100th anniversary, Motor Authority reported.

Last year, a bottle retailed for £790,000. It is not a meant to be drunk, the company's website explains - instead it should be displayed as art.

That's because the bling of the bottle frankly puts the SUV to shame.

According to the Dartz company's website, the flask, a replica of the radiator guard used for the Russo-Baltique cars, is made from gold coins minted between 1908 and 1912. This is around the time the company manufactured its first car.

The flask cap is made from white and yellow gold and contains a diamond-encrusted replica of the Russian Imperial Eagle.

And finally, the bottle itself is made of bulletproof glass 30cm thick - just in case.

The car - and vodka - were produced especially for the mega-exclusive Top Marques luxury motor show in Monaco next year.

The car is made by the company that produced armoured vehicles for Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, and Tsar Nicolas.




The seats are indeed of 'real whale penis leather,' says a spokesperson for Dartz Kombat.

'It is inspired by the original playboy Aristotle Onassis' yacht Christina O, which had bar stool seats made from sperm whale foreskin.

'Some people have called us crazy because of this, but we think we must make a luxury car till the end.'

Weighing four tons and powered by a V8 engine capable of 450 horse power, the Pombron's maker also claim the car is 'rocket grenade proof'.

'In the past our customers have included Lenin and his revolutionary partner Trotsky,' explains the Dartz spokesperson.

'In fact we are launching a version of this new model in 2012, just for Latin America.

'This will commemorate the fact that Trotsky was killed in Mexico with an ice pick in 1940.

'As such, the Latin version will come with a gold ice axe to mark this fact.'

There's more at the link. Further details may also be found at the manufacturer's Web site.

Dartz has placed this video compilation on YouTube, purporting to show the company's roots in pre-revolutionary Russia (although no satisfactory explanation is given for the ninety-odd-year hiatus in its history . . . I suspect the 'brand name' has been revived by one of the post-Soviet Russian oligarchs looking to make money out of it!).

At those stratospheric prices, I suspect I'll pass - whale-foreskin-leather-covered seats notwithstanding!

(And just where did they find the whale rabbi to provide those???)



Peter