To be perfectly honest, we weren’t familiar with the work of Weinsberg, Germany-based Xenatec group before hearing that the custom bodywork shop would be building a Maybach Coupe. Thanks to a tip from Auto Motor und Sport, we headed over to Xenatec’s website, and found that the firm offers a wide variety of custom bodywork ranging from the absurd to the sublime. Some of Xenatec’s customs, like the stretched Audi R8 shown above, show just how pointlessly nuts things can get when money is not a factor. Others, like the four-door BMW 6-Series and the Mercedes CLS Wagon actually represent pre-emptive swipes at forthcoming niche models. A four-door Porsche 911 even gives sufficiently well-heeled buyers the option of buying a “real” Porsche four-door as an alternative to the front-engine Panamera. You know the industry is passing through strange days when OEMs and tuning houses start meeting in the middle…

Long-wheelbase Benzes have a long and proud history, having been owned by such icons of cool as John Lennon and Hugh Hefner, as well as infamous villains like Pol Pot, “Baby Doc” Duvalier and Jeremy Clarkson. And, as Auto Motor und Sport informs us, the decline of other glandular vehicles like the Suburban has not prevented a new round of six-door Benz models. In fact, something about this picture indicates that vehicular size inflation is not completely a thing of the past… can you spot it?

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Sure Mitsuoka is a weird company, with a penchant for changing somewhat-boring modern cars into profoundly quirky tributes to classic designs. For example, if you really want a Nissan Versa that looks like a Jaguar Mk. II (and really, who doesn’t?), they’re the folks you go see. But is anyone imbalanced enough to desire a Mustang-based quasi-Rolls-Royce Drophead? Or is this just an attempt by Mitsuoka to out-ugly its own Orochi? There had better be a good reason for this monstrosity, because this Roller rip-off is deeply, almost intentionally hideous… as if the designer felt that the Mustang’s flank lines actually compliment the tacked-on Rolls hood. And we thought it was impossible to make the Geely GE look good…

Alfa-Romeo is turning 100 this year, and to celebrate, all the famous Italian design houses are showing their own conceptual expressions of Alfa-ness. And strangely, from Pininfarina’s buttoned-up (and bizarrely-named) 2uettottanta, to Bertone’s over-the-top Pandion, the entries thus far have felt a little… lackluster. Have Alfa’s recent problems killed the mystique? As it turns out, Pinin and Bertone were just getting us warmed up for Zagato’s stab at an Alfa tribute, this stunning TZ3 Corsa. Loosely based on 8C running gear, the TZ3 Corsa is not only an Alfa tribute, it’s also a racing special commissioned by German collector Martin Knapp, and homologated to FIA GT2 spec. Which means it doesn’t just look good. You know, TTAC’s birthday is coming up too…

BMW has M, Mercedes has AMG, and what does Volkswagen have for the person that wants more (factory-approved) oomph under the hood? This is going to change. Except for quietly lending tech support to the odd private team Volkswagen has been avoiding the racing circuit. This is also going to change. Read More >

A few days ago, we reported that a limited edition of 500 hopped-up Ford Focus RS was sold out within 12 hours of its announcement. Ford just had to utter “Ford Focus with 345BHP, a torque of 339lb/ft, 0-62mph in 5.6 seconds” and they were all spoken for. Judging from the stats coming off the TTAC server (the story was the most accessed that day,) interest in the hot hatch far outstrips the measly supply of 500. Help is on the way. You don’t even have to buy a new car. Read More >

What was once merely a tastelessly expensive and unnecessary car has been transformed by tuners into a full-fledged affront to nature at the 2010 Bodensee Tuning World show [via Autobild].

One of the few things TTAC has in common with the Weblogs Inc/AOL juggernaut Autoblog is a weird fascination with landau roofs, opera tops, and all manner of roof-paddery. But what was developing into a friendly rivalry to see who could come up with the ugliest aftermarket roof treatment has run out of control: there’s no way we will ever be able to top this padded-roofed Camaro for sheer unnecessary tastelessness. Congratulations, guys.

We still own the Ralliart name, and we still intend to brand our cars with it. The biggest change for us is that we won’t have to pay royalties to use the name anymore,

Mitsubishi North America spokesman Maurice Durand explains to Automotive News [sub] why the death of Mitsu-owned racing firm Ralliart is actually kind of a good thing. After all, how many Americans really watch rallying often enough to know or care whether Mitsubishi’s erstwhile rallying partner has anything to do with the cars that bear its name? The fact that the Lancer Ralliart has a two-liter turbocharged engine and AWD is what consumers will notice; using a brand name that leaves no doubt as to the inspiration for the trim level does everything it needs to from a marketing perspective. Whether a team named Ralliart actually races similar vehicles is, in the modern marketing context, almost completely irrelevant. After all, Subaru isn’t even competing in the World Rally Championship at all anymore… the old “win on Sunday, sell on Monday” adage couldn’t be more dead.

The Shreveport Times reports that GM will restart production of the HUMMER H3 and H3T starting April 12, for a batch build of 849 units. An unidentified “fleet buyer” apparently needs a grip of the baby-HUMMERs, despite the fact that the brand is being wound down after a deal to sell it to Sichuan Tengzhong fell through. Production at Shreveport had been shut down until the deal went through, and unless one of the two rumored post-Tengzhong offers materializes (and we’re not holding our breath), this could be the last production run for the brand. In other “rumors of HUMMER’s survival have been greatly exaggerated” news, the German tuner shop CFC is just now announcing an all-chrome HUMMER model [via bornrich.com]. What is this, 2004?

Do you like the Fiat 500, but worry that it has too much room and not enough flamboyance? Luckily the nuts at Rinspeed agree with your quixotic tastes. Others might have a harder time “C-ing” the point of this concept.

When I met Uwe Gemballa the first time, he looked like he could be the manager of the local strip club down the road: Shoulder long bleach blond hair, a flashy watch, a suit to match the watch, the shirt unbuttoned down to the chest. I then found out that he had brought a Porsche 911, that made upward of 750hp, to a friend of mine, to make it street legal. Gemballa had one of the hottest tuner shops in Germany. His mods to the Porsche Cayenne produced the fastest SUV in the world – at least that’s what Uwe told me. Last I heard from him was some two months ago. He wanted to import Gemballas to China, and could I help him? Then it became quiet. Now I know why. Read More >

Other, more enthusiast-oriented blogs have already cooed approvingly at the Hennessey Venom, which is set to debut in the next several months. We take note of it only because of how familiar its formula is. Take a lightweight British roadster, slap in a fire-breathing American V8 (in this case, a 1,000 hp twin-turbo version of the Corvette ZR1’s mill), destroying the donor car’s immaculate balance and creating something that rates higher on the gee-whiz-ain’t-it-cool meter than on any remotely utilitarian measure. Sound familiar? If it doesn’t now, it might in a few decades, when Hennessey unsuccessfully attempts to sue enthusiasts who build replicas of its entirely unoriginal supercar.

Oh how quickly things change! Just weeks ago, if you’d asked the average well-informed consumer what Toyota needed to change with its strategy, you’d have been treated to a treatise on how Toyota’s quest for quality and mass-market appeal had reduced its brand to signifying snooze-inducing appliances. Indeed, Toyota’s new CEO has emphasized enthusiasm as an area for improvement, waxing eloquent about the “splendid flavor” of the sporty vehicles Toyota doesn’t offer. Accordingly, Toyota is launching a sporting sub-brand àlá BMW’s “M” or Volkswagen’s new “R” line of high-performance vehicles according to Inside Line. Thanks to Toyota’s descent into recall hell however, boosting the brand’s sporty credentials is suddenly of highly debatable utility.

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