Hummer's Dead. Long Live The New Hummers

2010 Dartz Kombat T-98; starting price: $200,000; mpg: N/A.

If the Hummer is the equivalent of the flashy, flamboyant Apollo Creed from the "Rocky" films, then the Kombat is Ivan Drago putting him to rest "Rocky IV"-style.

This Russian-built behemoth's V8 can push it to 110 mph, which is no small feat when it's plated in steel and three-inch-thick windows. It can withstand a direct hit from a rocket-propelled grenade, but a proposed $1.5 million Prombron version also features bulletproof wheel hubs and a Vertu mobile phone with a panic button.

Though the costlier model's gold-plated windows, ruby- and diamond-encrusted gauges and extra layer of Kevlar have drawn interest from the Prince of Monaco and former tennis champ Marat Safin, its production is on indefinite hold after the World Wildlife Fund, Greenpeace and Pamela Anderson complained about the company's choice of upholstery material: whale penis leather.

Though Dartz failed to replicate Aristotle Onassis' use of the material as barstool upholstery for his yacht, it managed an even greater feat: winning a war of sexual euphemism with a company called Hummer.

-- Reported by Jason Notte in Boston.

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