Most cars are sold on their own merits, but every once in a while an automaker tries to sweeten the pot by throwing in an accessory or two that might push buyers off the fence and into the driver’s seat. On occasion, these incentives can get more than a little out of hand, crossing over into “full weird” territory, and standing apart from the usual free undercoating, monogrammed driving gloves, or branded coffee stein.
Here’s a look at the wildest bonus gear ever awarded by a car company seeking to separate its ride from the rest of the pack.
Land Rover Range Rover SV Orpheus Limited Edition Statue
Just in case a hulking, multi-tonne mass of metal and glass parked prominently in your driveway isn’t enough of a testament to the superiority and status of your automotive purchase, Land Rover late November 2024 stepped up to the plate with an even more ostentatious way to commemorate your spending flex: a seven-foot statue.
No, you can’t ask Land Rover to sculpt your own bodacious countenance out of marble—it’s not a completely bespoke offering. Instead, the special edition Range Rover SUV comes with a replica of an existing sculpture that sits five metres underwater near the Great Barrier Reef, off the coast of Australia’s Queensland province as part of the Ocean Sentinels installation.
The Orpheus Limited Edition (named after a nearby island) comes with a statue of Indigenous leader Jayme Marshall (originally designed by sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor). Before you blink at the vehicle’s AUD$520,561 price (that’s $472,975 in Canadian) keep in mind that only six of these vehicles will be built—and that a land-locked replica of the statue will cost you a hefty AUD$119,000 (CDN$108,000) on its own.
Nissan Rogue: Rogue One Star Wars Limited Edition Death Trooper Helmet
You’re not misreading that: yes, Nissan really did think bundling its compact SUV with something called a “Death Trooper helmet” was a good idea all the way back in 2017.
And let’s be honest. Nissan is far from the only company to be blinded by the popularity of Star Wars. One could argue Disney, the studio behind the seemingly endless stream of sequels and prequels and mid-quels bearing the Star Wars name, is the guiltiest party when it comes to over-estimating the appeal of the franchise.
Surely, however, there was some other trophy the automaker could have pulled from the enormous Star Wars universe that was a little less grim. Han Solo’s vest. Luke Skywalker’s missing hand. An R2D2 trashcan. Jabba The Hut’s slug goo. Anything.
Was the overwhelming glow of reflected Star Wars glory enough to convince potential buyers that they wanted something branded “Death Trooper” sitting as an objet d’art in their garage as a totem to the same-name similarities between the Nissan people-mover and the cinematic seat-filler? It’s hard to say, for while Nissan built 5,400 examples of the Rogue One Star Wars, it’s been mum on how many were actually sold.
Death Trooper. Seriously.
Volkswagen First Act Garage Master Limited Edition Electric Guitar
Back in 2006, Volkswagen had a left-field promotional campaign that paired a certain slice of its automotive line-up with a series of special edition electric guitars. Built by First Act, a company known for producing entry-level instruments, these axes were called Garage Masters.They were designed to plug into the AUX port on specially-equipped Volkswagens so you could play them through the vehicle’s entertainment system. This effectively transformed the automobile into a mobile amplifier, and theoretically made you way cooler than you were immediately prior to its purchase.
Volkswagen offered the promotion the following year as well, and the guitars came with Jettas, Rabbits, New Beetles, and the Touareg. Although there’s the requisite bit of VW branding on the guitar itself, the coolest part of the entire enterprise was the inclusion of the vehicle’s VIN number on the headstock of the guitar that accompanied it. That’s right: instead of a serial number, the Garage Master features a chromed VIN plate in the tuner peg valley, linking it forever to the car whose trunk it originally left the dealership in.
Hyundai Tucson Walking Dead Special Edition Zombie Survival Kit
As far as special editions go, the Hyundai Tucson tribute to The Walking Dead mostly consisted of disturbing blood splatter and grasping hand decals along the lower quarter panels, challenging Nissan’s “Death Trooper” branding in the race to stretch the limits of good taste. You also got Robert Kirkman’s signature inside the vehicle to impress your comic-book-savvy friends.
Much more interesting was the backpack that came with the car. This “survival kit” was stuffed with the kind of supplies Hyundai presupposed would be necessary in the event of a zombie apocalypse, including toothpaste, duct tape, tie-wraps (uhhhh…) and of course enough water and food to last 72 hours. That might be optimistic in terms of how long these zombie plagues usually seem to last on-screen, but it’s undoubtedly the most useful aspect of the Walking Dead package.
Land Rover Range Rover Holland & Holland Shotguns
Free statues is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to oddball Range Rover swag. Buried deep in the automaker’s corporate DNA is the fact that it has a “Royal Warrant,” which gives it permission to provide products to the British monarchy. While this might not mean much on our side of the Atlantic, over in the U.K. it translates into open season on team-ups with other Royal Warrant holders to create Justice League-level luxury gear team-ups.
Case in point: the 2016 Land Rover Range Rover Holland & Holland, a vehicle that tags in the high-end firearms builder to add an aristocratic hunting edge to the Range Rover SV Autobiography trim. Along with a unique green colour and extensive Holland and Holland badging, the SUV also came with a pair of shotguns whose wooden stocks matched the grain of the wood panelling found throughout the vehicle’s interior. The ornate weapons were stored in a special leather case built to fit the exact dimensions of the Range Rover’s cargo hold.
A predecessor to this “guns + trucks” motif was tried out nearly 30 years beforehand in the United States when one of Chevrolet’s regional sales divisions put together the “Outdoorsman” package for the brand’s full-size pickup. In addition to a sticker on the rear quarter panel (and a hat) the Outdoorsman gifted buyers with a Winchester model 94 rifle, a scope, a carrying case, and rack for the rear window. Fewer than 200 were sold.
Bentley Bentayga Falconry by Mulliner
This one’s a bit of a cheat, but if you’re the sporting type who thinks hunting with firearms is a little too easy, hold on, because Bentley has the truck for you—sort of. Mulliner built a one-of-one Bentayga that was completely oriented towards falconry, which is of course the time-honoured tradition of training falcons (nature’s skybound assassins) to go out into the world and do your bidding.
This unique Bentayga has all the gear an advanced falconer could dream of, including something called a “master flight station” and of course all the leather gauntlets and tiny little bird hoods you could want. There’s even a set of binoculars included should you get tired of tracking your falcon via leg-banded GPS.
You don’t have to hunt to get involved in falconry. You can always send your birds out carrying secret messages to far-away allies, or simply befriend these majestic raptors and convince them to tell you their aeolian secrets. Regardless of how you intend to approach the sport, the only things missing from the Bentley Bentayga Falconry by Mulliner are the falcons themselves.
Honda City Motocompo
In the 1980s, Honda realized its City kei hatchback simply wasn’t small enough for every driver out there. The answer was to get even smaller—and then stuff that solution behind the back seat of the car in question.
The Honda City has become famous for including in its cargo area the MotoCompo, a fold-up gas-powered scooter that was intended to be used in areas of Japan that flipped the script on George Orwell’s “four wheels good, two wheels bad” truism. Owners could park as far away from the office as they wanted, and then save their legs the misery of walking a kilometre or two by simply popping the hatch, pulling out the Motocompo, and riding all the way to the front door of their building.
It was an idea that had been tried before—but under very different circumstances. In the 1970s, Porsche teamed up with a company called Arova to build something called the 212 Skibob. What’s a Skibob? It was a “snow bike” that could be ridden down an alpine trail, with a single ski used for steering and a second supporting the weight of a full-size adult perched on the seat above.
The Arova-Porsche 212 Skibob was designed to fit into the frunk of the 911 of the era, and weighed no more than 14 kilograms, making it easy to transport. Alas, Porsche didn’t give these away, and fewer than 50 people are estimated to have ordered the accessory from their local dealer when it came time to purchase a new 911.
BMW Z3 Neiman Marcus 007 Edition Pierce Brosnan Dinner Party
We’ve mentioned before how the four-cylinder first-model year BMW Z3 was one of the most disappointing James Bond hero cars of all time. Too down on power to take full advantage of the Z3’s fun to drive chassis, the GoldenEye star had to wait two years before it got a straight-six engine that could sizzle on the road as well as the silver screen.
That didn’t stop Neiman Marcus from immediately marketing its own 007 Edition version of the BMW Z3, which of course came in an exclusive colour and various trappings that indicated its ties to the spy franchise. As an extra sweetener, however, the luxury department store chain threw in tickets to a dinner party hosted by the latest incarnation of Bond, Mr. Pierce Brosnan.
The event took place in Los Angeles, and was attended by the first 20 Neiman Marcus buyers and of course their plus-ones. Not only did owners break bread with the star, but they also got to walk the red carpet with him at a private screening of the movie, as well as drive prototype versions of the Z3 at BMW’s South Carolina plant where they witnessed their own vehicles being built on the line there.
Neiman Marcus underestimated the appeal of the Bond Z3, with 100 orders placed in the first two days. The decision was made to quintuple the production plans for the model, albeit without the additional dinner party perk provided to the 20 earliest adopters.
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