The Models

DARTZ Black Snake 2K13: Gold Leaf for the Year of the Snake

By DARTZ Editorial · 1 October 2026

The DARTZ Prombron’ Black Snake 2K13 was built for China and the Year of the Snake, which began in February 2013. Its bonnet is covered in gold leaf textured like snakeskin, over black paint with gold accents and gold wheels; the dashboard and armrests are snakewood, and a diamond mascot by Smolensk Kristall was offered. Underneath is a Mercedes-Benz GL 63 AMG with a 5.5-litre V8 of 550 hp, which DARTZ quoted at 4.9 seconds from 0 to 100 km/h.

In the Chinese zodiac, 2013 was the Year of the Snake. DARTZ built one.

At a glance


Name	DARTZ Prombron’ Black Snake 2K13
Made for	China, the Year of the Snake, from February 2013
Base	Mercedes-Benz GL 63 AMG
Engine	Twin-turbo 5.5-litre V8, 550 hp
0 to 100 km/h	4.9 seconds, as quoted by DARTZ
Signature	Gold-leaf bonnet textured like snakeskin

Launched in Forbes

The Black Snake was launched in Forbes in January 2013, and Leonard F. Yankelovich used the occasion to say what DARTZ has said ever since: a DARTZ is not an SUV. DARTZ calls the Black Snake “more expensive than most expensive”.

Gold and snakewood

Its bonnet is covered in gold leaf, textured like snakeskin, over deep black paint with gold accents and bespoke gold wheels. Inside, the dashboard and armrests are snakewood, and the seats could be trimmed in snake, crocodile or ostrich. A diamond bonnet mascot by Smolensk Kristall was offered as the finishing touch.

The Black Snake 2K13 head-on, with its gold grille and bumper

A gold-rimmed wheel of the Black Snake 2K13

Under the gold

Underneath is the Mercedes-Benz GL 63 AMG and its twin-turbo 5.5-litre V8 of 550 hp. DARTZ quoted 0 to 100 km/h in 4.9 seconds.

The carbon engine cover of the Black Snake, with the DARTZ skull crest cast in metal

A car for each lunar year

The Black Snake belongs to a line of cars DARTZ has built for the lunar calendar: the Black Dragon for 2012, the White Horse for 2014, the Black Alligator Black Tiger for 2022 and the Black Dragon CLV for the next Year of the Dragon. Its tail lights live on in a game, too: DARTZ says the horizontal lights of the GTA Online HVY Nightshark came from the Black Snake.

The Black Snake is now one of DARTZ’s past models.

About DARTZ

DARTZ is a Riga carrosserie that builds bespoke, opulent vehicles, armoured or non-armoured, in strictly limited numbers. It calls them BONDs: Bespoke Opulent Noble Drives.

Its heritage runs back to the Russo-Baltic Wagon Factory (RBVZ), founded in Riga in 1869, whose automobile department built its first car in 1909. Leonard F. Yankelovich revived that heritage as DARTZ in 1988. The group, DARTZ Grupa OÜ, is registered in Tallinn, Estonia.

Its Prombron’ models, from the Iron Diamond and Black Dragon to the Black Shark, Black Alligator and Black Stallion, have been covered by Top Gear, Forbes, Robb Report and Fox News, among many others.