The 2009 Nissan Murano isn’t even close to an official launch in the GCC, but it is already on the roads in Europe, and German tuners Cobra Technology & Lifestyle have went ahead and developed accessories for the softroader. Read more… »

The Hyundai Genesis Coupe won’t be out till early next year, but tuners HKS have been handed an example of the unreleased car to modify and display at the upcoming SEMA tuner show in Las Vegas. Read more… »

These images of a prototype body kit for the Nissan GT-R were released by tuner company Wald. Read more… »

Italian design house Pininfarina has taken a Rolls Royce Drophead Coupe and fully reskinned it create the one-off Pininfarina Hyperion. This coach-built convertible was unveiled at the Pebble Beach auto show in the United States this month. Read more… »

The Honda Accord is sold as the Inspire in Japan. Mugen is Honda’s in-house tuning arm that churns out performance parts for their cars. To celebrate the completion of my 2008 Honda Accord coverage with a final review of the V6 sedan, it is interesting to see that the conservative new Accord can actually look good with the right add-ons. Read more… »

England-based luxo-tuner Project Kahn has come up with yet another appearance package, this time for the Bentley Continental GT. The ‘Black Edition’ has an eight-piece body consisting of a three piece rear valance, two side skirts, a two piece front valance and a rear boot spoiler. Optional are the coolest alloy wheels we’ve seen in a long time. Read more… »

BMW let loose their designers to create the weirdest possible concept car, and they came up with the GINA Light Visionary Model. GINA stands for “Geometry and Functions in ‘N’ Adaptations” and the car’s single most interesting feature is its outer skin, which is made entirely out of textile fabric, pulled tightly around a frame of metal parts and carbon-fibre wires. The best part of this BMW Z4 lookalike is that it can change shape. Read more… »

The updated 2009 Mercedes SL has been touched by Brabus. The upgraded cars get upgraded engines, a dressed-up exterior, new light-alloy wheels with diameters of up to 20 inches, suspension tuning and custom interior design. Read more… »

If you follow Japanese car culture, you’ll realise that their car “enthusiasts” have a penchant for massive ground-hugging body-kits and for using random English words on their aftermarket products. Bearing that in mind, a Japanese company called Premier4509 has unveiled a custom widebody kit for the Bentley Continental GT. Read more… »

Faralli & Mazzanti, Italian builders of the custom Antas that we checked out last month, have added the V12-powered Vulca to their portfolio. Read more… »

While dumb shows such as Pimp My Ride become repititive after five episodes, it inspired drink-maker Barbican’s Supe-up Your Ride promotion, which offered regional owners of crappy cars the chance to win a free refurbishment and customisation of their ride. During their 3-month promotion, visitors were asked to upload videos of their old beaters on clipatbarbican.com, and other site visitors voted on which ones should be customised. The winners included this R32-spec Nissan Skyline GTS. Read more… »

Based on the Lotus Elise, the Rinspeed sQuba concept, to be shown at the Geneva Auto Show soon, is an all-electric vehicle with three motors, one to drive the car on land and two to power a pair of screw-drives for underwater movement. These are aided by two Seabob jet-drives that “breathe” through rotating louvers mounted on the car’s fenders and appear to give the car its manoeuvrability underwater. Read more… »

So our modified Toyota Supra Twin Turbo is in the hands of a capable new owner now. Its duties as a benchmark sports car have now been taken over by our BMW M Roadster. A full review for the Supra was in order, so we finally wrote about it, and we gave an account of what it’s like to own a really old and heavily modified car for very little money. But some of you might be wondering what a “benchmark” means. Read more… »

Usually I don’t freely advertise local aftermarket outfits, but the PR folks for Yellow Hat were kind enough to invite me to their opening ceremony, so I figured I’d give them my time. Yellow Hat is a Japanese superstore for aftermarket car accessories, and they have opened a branch store here in Dubai, at the Times Square Mall on Sheikh Zayed road. Read more… »

A world-record speed of 330.6 kph was set on the high-speed test track in Nardo, Italy with a Maybach 57 powered by a 720 hp Brabus-tuned SV12 S Biturbo engine, making it the world’s fastest ultra-luxury large sedan. The Brabus engineers and test drivers bested their own record set in 2005 when a Maybach 57 powered by a Brabus SV 12 Biturbo engine with 631 hp was clocked at 314 kph. Read more… »

The Auburn Speedster was a powerful American sports car built from 1929 to 1937, before disappearing decades ago. They were available with a variety of unique engines, such as a supercharged inline-8 and even a V12. A new outfit called Speedster Motorcars is putting these cars on the road again. Read more… »

German tuners HAMANN has modified the latest 3-Series Convertible. An aerodynamic kit, power boost, new wheels, suspension components, and a stylish interior complete the package. Read more… »

AC Schnitzer has released a number of visual mods for the latest Mini Cooper S. Read more… »

European outfit Cobra Technology & Lifestyle has developed, among other items, a stainless-steel tubular front guard for the facelifted Volkswagen Touareg. These guards meet European Parliament guidelines for pedestrian protection, which we are not sure is a good or bad thing. To save pedestrians, will it crumple more easily at the slightest bump? Read more… »

Japanese consumers now have access to the hottest Honda Civic Type R yet. The standard R sedan gets modified by Honda-owned Mugen, resulting in the Honda Civic Mugen RR. The Mugen RR sheds an additional 10 kg off the standard Civic Type R’s weight, coming in at 1242 kg. In addition to the weight loss, the free-breathing Mugen RR picks up 15 horsepower over the regular Type R. Read more… »