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The Mansory Speranza proves that money can buy taste and good sense...

...Just kidding.
No one in their right mind has ever accused German tuners Mansory of being subtle. So, when our Geneva team wandered across the Mansory Speranza - A Mercedes-Benz Gelandewagen that has been denuded of its roof and spackled inside with quilted leather and red carbon fiber ­- they didn't ask a lot of existential questions. Why does the Speranza exist? Because Germans are weird sometimes, that's why.
Forget for a moment that you'll have to pay Mansory hundreds of thousands of euros (we're guessing, no pricing information has been revealed) for the privilege of converting your G-Class into something that looks like a Suzuki Samurai, and prepare to be impressed by the details. The tuning house has increased the output of the Mercedes V8 to a healthy 700 horsepower and 668 pound-feet of torque. The wheels are 24-inches, and wear almost unbelievable 305-section ultra-high performance Vresdestein tires. Carbon fiber can be found nearly everywhere one looks, including making up the housing for the spare tire. Oh, and there are leather pillows for the backseats... no word on whether they're standard or optional, but we're looking in to it.

Race Recap: 2015 Hungarian Grand Prix is Magyar for 'What a race!'

Every driver on the Formula 1 grid dreams of taking home the silverware, but only one driver each year can do it. Barring disaster in 2015 it looks like it's going to be Lewis Hamilton. The Brit has been so dominating at the front of the grid on Saturday, we can't see how he'll miss out on winning the second annual FIA Pole Position Trophy. That's the accolade introduced last season in another manufactured attempt to give drivers something to work for on Saturday, since the FIA felt leading into the first corner didn't have the pull it used to. Hamilton took his ninth pole of the season in Hungary for Mercedes-AMG Petronas with a crushing lap that put him almost six tenths ahead of his teammate Nico Rosberg in second. All Hamilton needs is one more spot at the top of the grid this season, and he's the Pole Position trophy winner. Thrilling stuff. Behind Rosberg the gaps stayed smaller, Sebastian Vettel in the Ferrari a little more than a tenth behind Rosberg, Daniel Ricciardo in the Infiniti Red Bull Racing less than four one-hundredths behind Vettel. We feel almost as vexed watching Kimi Raikkonen as he feels driving – he's finally got a good Ferrari, now he can't get a good weekend. The front wing broke on his car in Free Practice 1, then a water leak in Free Practice 3 robbed him of setup time on the soft tire. He lines up in fifth about two tenths behind Ricciardo. The slow, tight Hungaroring didn't agree with the Williams chassis, Valtteri Bottas the first of the Grove team drivers in sixth, his teammate Felipe Massa two places back. Between them is Daniil Kvyat in the second Red Bull in seventh. Teenager Max Verstappen put in a good showing in the Toro Rosso to grab ninth, while Romain Grosjean in a wriggling, squishy, sliding Lotus classified his appearance in Q3 at all as "a miracle." As for the race that followed, we don't expect to see another like it for a long time – it was the real thrilling stuff, one shock after another. The drama began after the first parade lap, when Felipe Massa lined up out of position and the start was aborted. The drivers did another parade lap, then lined up with everyone in place. Mercedes got swamped as soon as the lights went out. Vettel ran around both of them and led the race into the first turn, Raikkonen had come from fifth to third by Turn 1, then got the inside line on Rosberg through Turn 2 to take second place.

Mercedes-Maybach GLS prototype caught testing with its big new grille

The new Mercedes-Benz GLS is a massive tech fortress on wheels, so the Maybach GLS is bound to be a massive tech castle. Last we heard from the gigantic Benz SUV was that it was going to be built at Mercedes’ Alabama plant. With a starting price expected to be around $200,000, itÂ’ll probably be the most expensive vehicle produced in the U.S. These spy shots give us an idea of what weÂ’re going to be looking at when the production SUV is finally revealed. Our first hint that this prototype is a Maybach is the grille. It looks suspiciously similar to the grille on the Vision Mercedes-Maybach Concept with all the vertical slats running down the big maw. Minimal camouflage is disguising the exterior for the most part, but we imagine Mercedes is hiding any of the gaudier parts of the car itÂ’d like to save for a big reveal. The exhaust outlets sure do look a bit different than the regular GLS, but the outside is generally the same as what we see today. As for the interior, thatÂ’s where most of the magic is expected to happen. A significantly overhauled look is inevitable, with the focus on even more luxurious materials than the most expensive norm-core GLS. A rear seat that's fit for a king or two is likely, along with Maybach-exclusive tech to boot. For now, we canÂ’t see in the heavily camouflaged and taped-off windows, leaving us to wonder about the luxury within. This Mercedes-Maybach is expected to compete with other massively expensive SUVs like the Bentley Bentayga or a fully decked-out Range Rover.  Everything thatÂ’s optional on the GLS should come as standard here, including the trick E-Active Body Control suspension. Look for a reveal coming in the not-so-distant future, as this prototype doesnÂ’t look terribly far from production to us. Featured Gallery Mercedes-Maybach GLS View 12 Photos Spy Photos Maybach Mercedes-Benz SUV Luxury