ABT's R8 was spectacular...
The tuners were out in force at Geneva, ranging from the stands with six cars or more to the minnows, and containing very much - if you'll forgive us the cliché - the good, the bad the ugly. And the Mansory, of course.
As usual, the most common recipient for the tuners' attentions was Porsche, but we'll start with a couple of respected Audi fettlers, ABT and MTM.
The MTM stand was dominated by the blinding spectacle of their R8 V10, not as you may presume, a wrap, but the result of stripping the paint from the car and then hand-polishing the aluminium for 700 hours. It also features their twin-turbo installation, bringing the power up to 777hp with 655lb ft of torque - good for 0-60mph in around 3.0 seconds. They also showed a TT RS with 472hp that looked more than a little useful.
ABT countered with a pair of R8s, both V10-based and featuring 620hp along with a raft of carbon fibre body parts. On the coupe the weight saving was said to be 100kg. They also had A6 and A7 models, but we'd been distracted by then with the great 'Geneva Cayenne Competition'.
...But MTM's effort was - er - shiny
Nothing seems to get the tuners excited like Porsche's SUV, even if the Mk2 version must be far too subtle for the tastes of their extroverted clientele. One of the more popular creations has always been the 'Magnum' by Techart so, no doubt to the delight of footballers everywhere, the company presented their new version at the show.
Still, if you think that's a little bit gauche, you haven't seen anything yet. SpeedART's black-with-blue example, for instance, or the Sportec offering, were certainly rivals, but the Hamann Cayenne really bent the needle on the good-taste-o-meter, challenged hard by Lumma (we'll be hearing from them again shortly, oh yes) and everyone's favourite, the Mansory. In fact, you might be expecting Mansory to scoop this competition outright, but the 'creation' that really snapped the meter's needle was the wide-arched, matt paint creation from FAB Design. We don't have a trophy, but if we did, imagine just how tacky it would be...
 Techart Cayenne seemed almost conservative... |
 ..compared to the efforts of some |
FAB Design also triumphed in the emerging 'Geneva Panamera Competition' with a truly stunning white, wide-arch effort. Contrast, if you will, efforts from SpeedART, and of course, the new Techart Panamera Grand GT.
 The Panameras were equally... |
 ...erm... striking |
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Novitec Rosso's Ferraris were more impressive - including an Ecurie Belge-inspired 599 GTO - while Mansory's 458 was, er, 'interesting', and included slats over the rear window like those on an old Capri. Should you mess with the delectable 458 in the name of individualisation? You decide.
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