Imagine that you have really deep pockets and have a liking for SUVs. But you are looking for something exclusive, something in the league of the Lamborghini Urus or even beyond! Well, then your quest should end at the Karlmann King, the world's most expensive SUV ever! It has been designed by a Chinese company called IAT and was built by a European team which comprises of over 1,800 people. The company says that it will build precisely 12 units of the Karlmann King but we do not know if all the models have already been booked or sold. It was first displayed at the Dubai International Motor Show in 2017.
The SUV is built on a Ford F-550 platform and weighs a portly 4,500 kg. Should you want your SUV to be bullet-proof; the weight can go up to a massive 6,000 kg. It is almost six metres in length. Under the hood is a massive 6.8-litre V10, from the Ford F-550 itself. The engine churns out close to 400 bhp, a little less for something that weighs 4.5 tonnes. This explains the lowly top speed of just 140 kmph!
As far as features go, the Karlmann King gets Hi-Fi sound, ultra HD 4K television set, private safebox, phone projection system and optional satellite TV along with optional satellite phone. Whoa! That's some luxury right there. Plus you have additional features such as a coffee machine, electric table, independent AC at the front and rear, indoor neon light control and so on. All the creature comfort features can be controlled via a smartphone app. The wheelbase of the car is a massive 3691 mm, which means there is more than enough room for a tea party inside. The edgy exterior has been built in carbon-fibre and steel.
Coming to the price of the Karlmann King, the prices start at 1.56 million pound sterling, which roughly translates to ₹ 14.33 crore. At that price, there are only a handful of people who could afford the Karmann King. Are you one of them? If yes, get in touch with IAT now.
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Batumi (Georgia), Jul 26 (PTI): Young Indian International Master Divya Deshmukh held her nerves to hold stalwart Koneru Humpy to a draw in game 1 of the FIDE Women's World Cup final, with both players having their share of opportunities to take the lead here on Saturday.
The draw with black means Humpy, the two-time World Rapid champion, holds a slight edge going in the second and final game under the classical chess rules in the two-game mini-match, and should the deadlock continue, games of shorter duration will be played to determine the winner.
Humpy employed the Queen's gambit accepted as black and it turned out to be a pretty fascinating game right out of the opening as Divya, 19, came up with a piece sacrifice early to deny the black king the right to castle.
Humpy was the first to err and, according to computers, Divya had things under control on the 14th move. However in her bid to recover the extra material, the Nagpur girl, who has secured a place in the Candidates tournament with her sterling performance here, missed a promising continuation.
What followed the exchange of all minor pieces and the ensuing queen and rook endgame gave enough counter play to both players. The game was eventually drawn after Humpy sacrificed her rook to force perpetual checks.
"The game saw an extremely sharp battle with the game ending in a draw in 41 moves. On move 7, Divya made her aggressive intentions clear by offering another pawn,
which looked like home preparation. Humpy made a practical decision of refraining from taking the pawn and a balanced position was reached by move 10 by white," said Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay, an Arjuna awardee and the first Indian to get a chess Grandmaster norm.
"However, instead of developing the undeveloped Knight, Humpy retreated the centralised Knight on move 10, giving huge positional advantage to Divya. Divya could have gained huge positional advantage on the 12th move by moving a rook. However, she chose to play for King side attack by sacrificing a piece instead.
"Humpy, too, erred at this stage and instead of moving the King to Queen side, moved it to the King side. Divya, on move 14, could have obtained a crushing attack by threatening a mate by developing her Queen. Instead she chose to exchange a pair of Bishops first, which enabled Humpy to defend her King by returning the piece," said Thipsay.
"Players thus reached a balanced Queen and two Rooks ending. Divya continued to play ambitiously and tried to attack Humpy’s King but the latter defended accurately and the game was drawn in 41 moves by perpetual check," he added.
In the play-off for the third place, Chinese players Zhongyi Tan, the former women's world champion and top seed Lei Tingjie also decided to split points out of a Queen’s gambit declined game.
The opening raised visions of a close contest between the two but having been knocked out of title race in the previous round, none of them wanted to take any huge risk. It was still a middle game when the players shook hands.
With the top two positions sealed for the Indians, the berth to the next Candidates is also assigned, while the player finishing third will also get an entry to the premier event scheduled for 2026.
Results: Divya Deshmukh (Ind) drew with Koneru Humpy (Ind); Zhongyi Tan (Chn) drew with Tingjie Lei (Chn).