If Your Car Doesn't Have Side Exhaust That Glows Red, What's The Point?

Photo: Daniel Golson/Brabus

I’ve always been into wild tuner car companies, from ’80s icons like Rinspeed and Koenig to more modern brands like Liberty Walk and Mansory. Whether or not the end product actually looks good, to my eyes the crazier it is the better. One of my favorite tuners is Brabus, the longtime modifier of all types of Mercedes, and recently the German brand has been fitting some of its G-wagens with a truly ridiculous feature that I absolutely love: glowing red exhaust tips.

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Yes, you read that right. First introduced on Brabus’ fastest and most absurd Rocket models, you can opt for larger side-exit exhaust tips that have a carbon-fiber surround and a ring of red LED lights set around each tip deeper in the surround. Brabus calls it the Rocket Launch Ambience Light, and in addition to the lights, it features increased performance over the stock exhaust and active flaps that provide a quiet “coming home” mode. As you can see from this Brabus 800 I saw the other day — the mid-range tuning package for the AMG G63 — the red glow is very noticeable, even during the daytime.

Do I acknowledge that this is pretty tacky and silly? Yes. Do I think that it’s one of the best car modifications ever created? Also yes. The G-Class is already one of the most ridiculous cars on the road, and those side pipes are one of the AMG versions’ most iconic features — even with noise-canceling headphones in, I can not only hear but feel when a G63 rumbles by, and the effect is even stronger from inside the car.

If you’re already spending tens of thousands of dollars (maybe even hundreds of thousands) modifying an already expensive and outlandish G-wagen, why not go for the glowing red exhaust? It’s the cherry on top of the widebody kit, carbon-fiber wings, huge wheels, brightly colored leather, pickup conversions and other in-your-face options that Brabus offers.

Brabus hasn’t stopped at glowing exhaust, either. Some of its recent creations have glowing red lights in the grilles, too. Hell yeah.