The Models

DARTZ Pullman Shere Khan: A Tiger-Faced Pullman for a Hotel Group

By DARTZ Editorial · 7 October 2026

The DARTZ Pullman Shere Khan is a Mercedes V-Class rebuilt by DARTZ for an international hotel group, shown in 2026. It wears black and gold, a tiger-head grille in DARTZ's Picassian Sliced Art Deco style that the driver can swap for a hotel's crest or a guest's monogram, and an interior of Maybach seats, real wood, real leather and a television in a wooden cabinet. Like every DARTZ, it can be built armoured or non-armoured, to the client’s specification.

DARTZ has never wanted to build a van. It says so itself. But DARTZ is a bespoke house, and when a client insists, it does not refuse.

A hotel group asks

The client was an international hotel group that liked to collect its guests in Mercedes V-Class vans. What it wanted was something none of the “V.V.I.P.” versions could give it. So it ordered one from DARTZ: a van, not a Prombron’.

DARTZ’s brief to itself was to make the van look as DARTZ as possible while keeping its shape, and to leave out everything it could find in an online supermarket.

A tiger for a face

The name comes from the tiger of The Jungle Book, to make clear who rides inside. It is also a nod to history: DARTZ says its ancestors at the Russo-Baltic works built an armoured Pullman carriage in the 1880s.

The grille is DARTZ’s Picassian Sliced Art Deco design, with a tiger’s head. After its skull grille met some controversy, DARTZ explains, because not every culture reads a skull as immortality, it made a tiger. And the Shere Khan comes with a set of grilles: a driver or a porter can swap the tiger for the hotel’s logo or a regular guest’s monogram.

The DARTZ Pullman Shere Khan head-on: a sliced Art Deco grille carrying a sculpted tiger head, between triple LED headlamps

Old money inside

Inside, DARTZ keeps it as old-school as it can. Real Maybach seats. A television in a wooden cabinet. Real wood, real metal and gold that is really gold, not anodised plastic. An upgraded old-school mobile phone. Audio by Metaxas & Sins, created by Kostas Metaxas for DARTZ. And leather, only NaturReal Ⓓ, exotic as standard. There is no eco leather anywhere.

The DARTZ Pullman Shere Khan in profile: gold upper body over black, Maybach-style multi-spoke wheels and a roof light bar

Protection

Like every DARTZ, the Shere Khan can be built armoured or non-armoured, to the client’s specification. Read how DARTZ’s GBOL armour works, and its Drone Protection Standard.

Status

The Shere Khan was shown in images in 2026 and covered by Auto Bild and Auto Motor und Sport. Auto Bild reported that its road approval was still to come. Like every DARTZ, it is built to order, beginning with a conversation with the office of Leonard F. Yankelovich.

DARTZ added a postscript to its own announcement: the text was written without AI or a spell-checker, by a real human of flesh and blood.

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.

Questions we are asked

What is the DARTZ Pullman Shere Khan?

A Mercedes V-Class rebuilt by DARTZ as an opulent Pullman, first ordered by an international hotel group.

Why is it called Shere Khan?

After the tiger of The Jungle Book, to underline who rides inside. DARTZ adds that its ancestors at RBVZ built an armoured Pullman carriage in the 1880s.

Can the grille be changed?

Yes. The car comes with a set of grilles in DARTZ's Picassian Sliced Art Deco style. The driver or a hotel porter can swap the tiger for a hotel logo or a guest's monogram.

Is the Shere Khan armoured?

Like every DARTZ, it can be built armoured or non-armoured, to the client’s specification.

Is the Shere Khan on the road yet?

It was shown in images in 2026. Auto Bild reported that road approval was still to come.