Modified

Ethanol is a hot topic among biofuels advocates - and opponents - and green-car fiends alike, but it has a long tradition as a performance fuel as well. Lexmaul taps into that tradition with their latest Vectra, converting the car to E85 flex-fuel capability for extra performance. The CO2 savings...

Environmentally friendly electrical utilities company Ecotricity has been selling green electricity for over a decade, but its founder Dale Vince has decided to take on a more ambitious project: to build a good looking, "wind-powered" electric sports car. Currently, Vince is working with a team of...

California’s Vorsteiner Race Technologies has created yet another bodykit for the 997 Porsche 911, but while the firm’s previous kits were for the more mundane Carrera, the latest has been designed exclusively for the high-performance Turbo. After painstakingly forging the design of the...

Undoubtedly one of the most extreme concept cars to ever come out of Volkswagen’s design studios, 2007’s Golf GTI W12 650 dropped plenty of jaws - not only because of its twin-turbocharged W12 engine but also because of its overt styling. Unfortunately, VW never had any plans to build...

Traditionally, coupe variants of mainstream sedans sell in much lower numbers than the four-doors on which are they based, but in the case of the new 2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe the opposite is true. Sales of the Coupe have been extremely strong, even outpacing that of its sedan sibling despite...

Last September Japanese tuning and aftermarket parts firm Trust filed for bankruptcy in its home country, but despite the hairy situation the tuner’s U.S. extension, GReddy Performance Parts (GPP), was able to continue operating unaffected. As in the U.S., bankruptcy in Japan is a business...

Love them or hate them, tuners are here to stay, and sometimes they even manage to improve the cars they tackle. Take the new JMS VW Scirocco for example. Though they recognize the difficulty in improving on a dramatically styled new car like the Scirocco, they've managed to make some basic changes...

Noted for its sleek, stylish and almost stealthy modifications of Mercedes-Benz vehicles, Kicherer occupies a special place in the German tuner scene. Apparently that place is very special, because it has released a new E-Class tuning program before the car has even been delivered to dealerships...

Ever since Mansory acquired the former Porsche performance division of Swiss design firm Rinspeed, the Bavarian tuner has been releasing a slew of new models based around Porsche’s various models. Last week’s Geneva Motor Show saw several of the beasts unveiled, including the...

The American tuning scene is rapidly expanding to the point where some firms, like Ohio’s Switzer Performance and now Arizona’s Evolution Motorsports (EVOMS), are modifying German cars to the same extent, if not more, than tuners in Germany itself. Switzer has released a number of kits...

Common adjectives applied to tuner-modified Bentleys include: gaudy, excessive, and hideous. The Premier4509 won't be falling victim to such criticism, however, as its sleek lines and highly aerodynamic profile actually fit with the overall theme of the car. Rather than going the route of its last...

Saleen Automotive announced last November that it was seeking a potential buyer, with management acknowledging the firm has suffered financially from the economic downturn and rising fuel prices. In February Saleen announced the sale of its supercharger, aftermarket and high-performance street...

Back in the 1960s, at the height of the Cold War, the world's two superpowers were locked in a technology race to develop their military capabilities fastest. Out of this came the idea of 'stealth' aircraft like the legendary SR-71 Blackbird, which provided the inspiration for this highly-modified...

This year's FIA GT3 European Championship will have a new competitor in the form of the Ferrari F430 Scuderia GT3. The car will be a successor to the standard Ferrari F430 GT3, which managed to win the GT3 championship in 2007. While this in itself is nothing special, what’s interesting is...

The Volkswagen Scirocco is proving to be popular with tuners, with German performance shop Caractere also releasing its own hotted-up version of the svelte sports coupe. Caractere’s work on German cars has been well documented, especially some of its creations based on much more expensive...

Swiss tuner Sportec usually specializes in Porsche models, but now the company has unveiled a highly modified Audi RS6 Sedan at the Geneva Motor Show. Labeled the Sportec RS700, the new car has a number of modifications that make it an even more formidable machine than it was before the Swiss...

German tuner Mansory chose the Geneva Motor Show to unveil its latest customization effort, a reworked Bentley Continental GT Speed. The modifications consist of both engine and aerodynamic changes, and give the car a sportier than the originally understated Bentley and plenty of extra power to...

In the world of high-end car modification, there's extreme, there's insane, and then there's Mansory. But anyone that's actually been inside a Mansory vehicle knows the attention to detail and craftsmanship that goes into their over-the-top designs - they reek of quality. So the chopped, dropped...

It's not often that a full-sized SUV with the same power output of a Ferrari Enzo and a capability to hit almost 200mph comes along, unless of course you find yourself at the Brabus stand at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show. The Mercedes Benz specialist tuner has chosen the Geneva event to unveil three...

Renowned German tuner AC Schnitzer has developed a number of heavily modified cars in the past, the most recent being its new kit for the facelifted 3-series range. Lately, however, the tuner has decided to take a more subtle approach to customization, releasing a set of custom wheels and aero...