About a month ago, we showed you a finely crafted, tuned-up Porsche Cayenne Turbo Coupe courtesy of Merdad. Turns out, the aftermarket company isn’t done with their tool kits just yet. Another modified Porsche Cayenne Turbo has come out of the UK-based tuning shop. This time, it’s a four-door version that has been given its own full-blown Merdad exterior body upgrade.
For this particular version, the aerodynamic upgrades include an electronic lowering model that drops the car’s height by 40mm, a set of Merdad Racing 22” forged rims that come in either black or silver editions, and a Merdad “Super Sound” exhaust system at the exterior. For the interior, Merdad outfitted the Cayenne Turbo with a unique leather interior trim, specially-designed alloy racing pedals, entrance blends, a floor mat set, and steering wheel.
As far as we’re concerned, we actually prefer the Cayenne Turbo Coupe version – mostly because we like black more than white – but it’s not to say that this new project isn’t anything to laugh about. After all, when you’ve done the level of work that Merdad has done with Porsches, you trust these guys to release a product that’s certainly worth their stature in the industry.
Despite the fact that gas prices are still on the rise, the SUV market continues to grow, and 2010 brought in plenty of new models to further this growth process. Starting with the new generation Porsche Cayenne, the new BMW X3, and the long waited Land Rover Evoque, the laundry list of SUVs gave us just about every model we could possibly ask for, and some we wish they would have taken back.
For the avid readers of TopSpeed, it’s no surprise that the Cayenne is on our list of top SUVs for the year. This vehicle was just as admired by us as it was with the dozens of tuners that tried their hand at remodeling it. The Evoque was also popular, but more so in the headlines with news stories of its release dominating the waves for a significant amount of time. The BMW X3 is no stranger to awards with a few already tacked on to its bumper from previous years. The newest model will be no different as its style and luxury has carried on through 2010.
We had our top three picks, but it was time to choose the winner. We based our choice on exterior design, performance, and fuel economy, which is rather important in vehicles of this class. Would tradition reign supreme or will a brand new model spank the competition?
Hit the jump to find out which SUV was our top pick for 2010.
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A few months ago, Merdad – one of our favorite tuning firms in the world – unveiled the first details on their new project for the Porsche Cayenne. Chopping off two of its doors, Merdad turned the Cayenne into a sharper looking coupe by making the necessary adjustments to compensate for the loss of the two doors.
The Cayenne 902 Coupe is not different. As with a lot of their recent works with the Cayenne, Merdad used a comprehensive styling kit with new aerodynamic parts that are complemented by an electronic lowering module and accentuated by a set of 22” alloy wheels that comes in a choice of either black or silver colors. Merdad also took the Cayenne’s interior and dressed it up to the nines by adding black leather and red Alcantara with new trims and a sports steering wheel.
The UK-based tuning firm also tweaked and fine-tuned the Cayenne’s engine with a variety of engine upgrades, bumping up the SUV’s output – depending on the program – to 550 horsepower and all the way up to 750 horsepower. The top-end version of the Cayenne 902 is expected to hit a staggering 0-60 mph time of just a little over four seconds – 4.4 seconds, to be exact.
The Russian automotive beauty experts, TopCar, are taking yet another opportunity to remodel the new generation Porsche Cayenne by providing another package with exterior and interior updates. It is called the Vantage 2 and is basically the non-GTR version of the Vantage GTR2 provided by the same tuner.
For the exterior, the package adds a long list of carbon fiber elements, including a new front spoiler bumper, front fender extensions, and a new bonnet. More carbon can be found on the side skirts, rear spoiler, roof spoiler, rear fender wings, and diffuser with LED brake light strip. The package also includes a new set of wheels available in either 22" or 23" dimensions. The interior only gets cleaned up with hand-crafted leather and different aluminum insertions.
However, the most impressive changes were made under the hood. Much like its GTR partner, the Vantage 2’s 4.8 liter twin-turbocharged V8 version has been tweaked to deliver 760hp, up from the standard 500hp. Mum’s the word on the new performance numbers as of yet, but we’ll pass them along as soon as we get them.
Gemballa hasn’t exactly had the best year, to say the least, in 2010. Earlier this year, the company’s founder, Uwe Gemballa mysteriously disappeared only to be found a few months later in South Africa, a victim of an apparent murder orchestrated by people that he may have had some prior involvement with.
Then in February, German police officials closed down the company’s tuning shop only to be re-opened a few months later when the company officially re-opened under new leadership with CEO Andreas Schwarz and Investor Steffen Korbach taking the reins and assuming full control of the company.
So after a tumultuous year, the new Gemballa is poised to enter 2011 on a positive note by announcing their latest project, the Tornado Porsche 958 Cayenne.
It may have taken longer than anyone would have liked, not to mention the tragic circumstances surrounding the untimely death of its founder, but the new company is trying to make sure that some semblance of normalcy returns after the year they’ve been through.
And, really, what better way to do that than to announce the development of a new and awesome project.
UPDATE 05/04/11: Here’s something you don’t see at an auto show: The Cayenne-based Gemballa Tornado made its official debut at the recently concluded 2011 Top Marques Monaco and before anybody else could take the SUV out for a test run at the Monaco Grand Prix circuit, an Arabian sheik bought the SUV 16 seconds after the show opened its doors. 16 seconds, people. That guys scooped up the Gemballa Tornado faster than it takes for us to drink our coffees in the morning.
Check out details for the Tornado Porsche 958 Cayenne after the jump.
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