Brabus builds a bus — but of course

We’re used to seeing the Brabus nameplate on Mercedes-Benz’s performance cars; enthusiast models that are already pretty wild when they leave the production line, made all the more mental by Brabus’ team of mad-eyed labcoat-wearers; in our mind a cross between fashionably bedraggled Porsche customiser Magnus Walker and Doc Brown from Back to the Future.

That the tuning house has now set its sights on the Mercedes-Benz commercial fleet is probably not a surprise.

Brabus has re-styled a Maybach in the past and there are still Brabus-badged Smart cars on New Zealand streets.

But yes. The new Brabus VIP Conference Lounge certainly puts the ‘bus’ in Brabus.

It’s based on a Sprinter van, but there’s no chance you’ll have been ferried from the airport to the conference centre in anything like this before.

The tuning house reckons the VIP Conference Lounge features an interior on par with that of a private jet in terms of luxury accoutrements and detailing.

Based on a long-wheelbase Sprinter, the made-over model receives three rows of individually heated seats, upholstered in a combination of leather and dark gray Alcantara, an Alcantara-upholstered headliner, conference table, high-speed LTE router, a pair of TV monitors and a 10-inch tablet.

There’s also a fridge for all that champagne, a Blu-ray player and plenty of ambient lighting, among other features.

Outside, the Brabus VIP Conference Lounge features a sporty front bumper with LED daytime running lights, a Brabus-specific front grille and unique alloy wheels.

Dark-tinted windows protect the occupants from prying corporate enemies.

The list price? This office-away-from-office on wheels will set you back €224,910 ($340,000).

But hey, what price is the happiness of your sales force on the road?