Category Archives: Tuning

Tuning

AC Schnitzer Turns the BMW i5 Into a Stealthy Electric M5

By now, the G60-generation BMW 5 Series has settled into its role as Munich’s tech-heavy, executive express, and its all-electric i5 sibling has proven that electrons don’t have to mean anonymity. Still, if you’re the kind of owner who wants your EV to look less like a boardroom shuttle and more like it’s late for a Nürburgring lap, AC Schnitzer has been quietly cooking up exactly what you need.

The longtime BMW tuning house has rolled out a full suite of visual and chassis upgrades for the i5, applying the same hardware it previously offered for the gas-powered G60/G61 models. The result is a sedan that looks like a toned-down M5—muscular without crossing into boy-racer territory.

The transformation starts at the nose. A new front splitter sharpens the i5’s face and visually lowers the car, and it’s matched with more assertive side skirts and not one but two rear-spoiler options. Touring models get their own tailored wing, because even your electric family hauler deserves a little aerodynamic swagger. All of these pieces are designed to work with BMW’s M Sport package, which already gives the i5 a more aggressive set of bumpers from the factory.

AC Schnitzer also offers striped side decals for anyone who thinks subtlety is overrated, but the real show-stealers are the wheels. Three different designs are available, in finishes and sizes ranging from 19 to 21 inches. The photo car wears 21-inch AC3 FlowForming five-twin-spoke alloys, filling out the arches nicely and pairing up with red brake calipers for a splash of visual drama. It’s the kind of detail that makes pedestrians do a double take—and then realize it’s not an M5 after all.

To make sure the stance matches the looks, AC Schnitzer fits shorter coil springs that drop the i5 by 20 to 25 millimeters, along with spacers that widen the track by 20 mm. The effect is simple and effective: the i5 sits lower, looks wider, and appears far more planted than the buttoned-up stock car.

The donor vehicle here is the i5 M60 xDrive, the baddest electric 5 Series BMW sells. With two motors delivering a combined 601 horsepower and 820 Nm of torque, it’s already plenty quick in factory trim. AC Schnitzer isn’t touching the powertrain for now—electrons are apparently off-limits—but if history is any guide, the upcoming combustion-powered M5 won’t be so lucky.

Pricing, as always with German tuners, is à la carte. The front splitter will set you back €1,290, the side sills €840, and the roof spoiler €490, with an additional €540 if you opt for the more subtle rear lip. Wheels are the biggest ticket item, running up to €5,390 depending on size and finish. Add €486 for spacers and €581 for the lowering springs, and you can build an i5 that looks every bit as menacing as its M-badged cousin—without waiting for BMW to do it themselves.

For enthusiasts who want their electric executive sedan to project more Autobahn attitude and less airport-hotel anonymity, AC Schnitzer’s i5 package might be the perfect plug-in personality upgrade.

Source: AC Schnitzer

Tuning

Koenigsegg Jesko by Mansory

If you thought Koenigsegg’s Jesko Attack was already pushing the outer limits of what a road-legal hypercar should be, Mansory would like a word. The German tuner—best known for its unapologetically extravagant takes on ultra-luxury machinery—has decided that even a 1,600-horsepower Swedish missile deserves more carbon fiber, more aero, and more attitude.

The Jesko, after all, is no ordinary hypercar. With production capped at just 125 units split between the track-focused Attack and the slippery, high-speed Absolut, it’s already rarer than most seven-figure exotics. But one owner apparently looked at their Attack and thought, Nice… but not insane enough. Enter Mansory with a full-carbon aerodynamic package that transforms Koenigsegg’s engineering masterpiece into something that looks like it escaped straight from a GT racing paddock.

Seventeen Ways to Say “More Downforce”

Mansory’s overhaul is comprehensive—almost obsessive. The tuner replaces or adds no fewer than 17 separate carbon-fiber aero components, all designed to increase downforce, airflow management, and visual drama.

Up front, the Jesko gets a reworked hood with carbon vents, flanked by new side flaps and a pair of race-inspired front wings that give the nose a far more aggressive stance. Two new “boomerang” elements and vertical aero blades add both turbulence control and the kind of visual chaos Mansory customers tend to love.

Around the back, the madness continues. Mansory fits new endplates and aero add-ons to the already gigantic rear wing, along with rear side flaps and an entirely new center diffuser section to better extract air from beneath the car. A full-carbon “racing” brake light—essentially a Formula 1-style rain light—adds a motorsport touch, while carbon “rear eyebrows” finish off the visual theatrics.

And because even the Jesko’s cooling system can always use more help, Mansory adds a roof-mounted air scoop to push extra airflow into Koenigsegg’s monstrous 5.1-liter twin-turbo V8, which already produces up to 1,600 horsepower on E85 fuel.

Peak Excess Meets Peak Engineering

The result is a Jesko that looks even more like a land-based fighter jet than the already outrageous original. Where Koenigsegg’s design philosophy leans toward purposeful minimalism, Mansory’s version turns every aerodynamic surface into a visual statement. It’s louder, sharper, and undeniably more aggressive—exactly what you’d expect when one hypercar perfectionist meets another.

Does the Jesko actually need this much extra aero? Probably not. But in the rarefied world of multimillion-dollar hypercars, “need” has never been the point. What Mansory offers here is individuality—an already ultra-exclusive machine made even more unrepeatable.

And if you’re the type of owner who felt the standard Jesko Attack wasn’t quite outrageous enough, congratulations: Mansory just built your dream car.

Source: Mansory

Tuning

Toyota Crystal Eye 60 Prius

For most of its life, the Toyota Prius has been the vehicular equivalent of beige carpet. Sensible, efficient, and about as emotionally charged as a toaster. But the current-generation Prius changed that narrative. It finally looks… good. Genuinely good. Toyota swapped the fridge-on-wheels silhouette for something sleek, low, and just edgy enough that you don’t feel like you need to apologize for driving it.

Naturally, that meant the tuners were going to get involved.

Enter the Crystal Eye 60 Prius, a one-off show car from Japan that answers a question nobody asked: What if the Prius were designed by a cyberpunk samurai with a Fast & Furious DVD collection?

The car debuted at the Tokyo Motor Show, where subtlety went to die. Built by lighting specialist Crystal Eye with help from Body Shop Kikuta, this Prius doesn’t just push the styling envelope—it shreds it into confetti and lights it on fire.

A Prius That Looks Ready to Commit Crimes

Up front, the car wears a splitter so large it could double as municipal snow-removal equipment. Above it sits a ventilated hood that suggests track-day intent, even if the powertrain underneath is still politely humming along in hybrid serenity. Wide, flat aluminum fender extensions flare outward, wrapping around 20-inch Work wheels that gleam like jewelry stolen from a supercar.

It’s the rear, though, where things really spiral into glorious madness.

A towering wing sprouts from the tailgate, flanked by angular fins that jut out like mechanical paddles. Beneath it all sits a massive rear diffuser, because nothing says “aerodynamic efficiency” like a Prius that looks like it’s about to enter a time-attack race.

And then there are the taillights: custom hexagonal LED units developed by Crystal Eye themselves. They’re sharp, futuristic, and will soon be sold to anyone who wants their own Prius—or anything else—to look like it belongs in a dystopian anime.

Laying Frame in a Hybrid

The entire thing rides on Air Rex Odin air suspension, allowing the Prius to drop to mere millimeters above the pavement when parked. It doesn’t just sit low—it lies in wait. It’s the kind of stance normally reserved for supercars and show queens, not for a plug-in hybrid whose natural habitat is the Whole Foods parking lot.

Yet here we are.

Still a Prius… Technically

Under all the carbon, aluminum, LEDs, and bosozoku-inspired chaos, the Crystal Eye 60 is still a Prius. It uses Toyota’s most powerful plug-in hybrid setup, good for 223 PS, which is respectable—but not exactly the stuff of street-racing legends. There are no turbochargers hiding beneath those vents, no engine swaps yet lurking in the shadows.

That makes this build all the more hilarious and brilliant. It looks like it should be illegal in at least three countries, yet it’s still technically road-legal in Japan.

Why It Exists

This Prius was never meant to be a production car. It’s a rolling billboard, built to showcase Crystal Eye’s lighting products and grab attention at auto shows. And it absolutely succeeds. In a sea of tastefully modified sports cars and hypercars, the most outrageous thing in the room is… a Prius.

Somehow, Toyota’s once-boring hybrid has become a blank canvas for wild creativity. And in the hands of Japan’s tuning culture, it has transformed into something that blurs the line between show car, anime villain, and rolling art installation.

If this is the future of the Prius, count us in—even if we’re still secretly laughing at it.

Source: Toyota