Category Archives: Tuning

Tuning

Widetrack Avontur: A Defender Pickup with Supercar Attitude

For years, Land Rover enthusiasts have asked the same question: If the Defender is tough enough to conquer almost any terrain on Earth, why isn’t there a factory pickup? Land Rover has flirted with the idea, teased concepts, and left the imagination to do the rest. Urban Automotive has grown tired of waiting.

Its answer is the Widetrack Avontur, a dramatic two-door Defender pickup that transforms the already imposing Defender into something that feels equally at home on a construction site, an off-road trail, or parked outside an exclusive London hotel.

Unveiled at the Goodwood Festival of Speed as part of Urban Automotive’s tenth anniversary celebration, the Avontur isn’t simply a Defender with its roof chopped off. It’s a comprehensive engineering exercise built around the Defender 110 Hard Top, requiring dozens of bespoke components and structural modifications to create a vehicle that looks factory-developed rather than hastily modified.

The transformation begins where most conversions would end. Urban removes the rear portion of the Defender’s roof, replaces the cut sections with precision-crafted carbon-fiber panels, and finishes the silhouette with a matching rear spoiler. The rear doors disappear entirely, giving the SUV proportions that evoke the classic Defender pickups of decades past while maintaining a thoroughly modern presence.

The company’s signature Widetrack treatment ensures the Avontur doesn’t go unnoticed. Color-matched fender extensions wrap around massive 23-inch alloy wheels, while a more aggressive front splitter and sculpted hood add visual muscle. Yet the centerpiece is undoubtedly the carbon-fiber cargo bed, which blends premium materials with practical functionality. A modular rail system, integrated bottle holder, and functional tonneau cover make it more than just an exercise in style—it is a usable load space with unmistakable super-premium execution.

Of course, removing a substantial portion of a vehicle’s body structure presents engineering challenges. Urban says it developed dedicated structural reinforcements, including a roll cage, to preserve the Defender’s rigidity and durability. Altogether, the conversion incorporates more than 36 custom-designed components, with buyers able to specify either gloss or matte carbon-fiber finishes to personalize the truck’s appearance.

The Avontur also continues a growing tradition within Urban Automotive’s family of bespoke Defender conversions. Sister company Heritage Customs has already attracted attention with its handcrafted Defender 130 pickup and convertible builds, but the Avontur brings a more aggressive, performance-inspired interpretation to the formula.

The pickup wasn’t the only Defender grabbing attention at Goodwood. Urban also introduced its latest styling package for the high-performance Defender Octa, adding forged carbon-fiber accents throughout the exterior. The package includes a vented hood, aerodynamic enhancements, redesigned front bumper elements, pronounced wheel-arch extensions, a roof spoiler, a bespoke spare-wheel cover, and carbon-fiber exhaust surrounds.

The forged carbon finish gives the Octa a distinctly exotic flavor, drawing inevitable comparisons to the extravagant creations of boutique tuning houses. Finished in blue with contrasting gold 23-inch Vossen forged wheels and matching exterior accents, the demonstrator left little doubt about Urban’s intention to push the Defender into super-SUV territory.

Urban Automotive has already opened customer registrations for the Widetrack Avontur, while orders for the Defender Octa package are officially underway. Pricing remains under wraps, although nobody should expect either conversion to come with anything resembling a bargain sticker.

Then again, exclusivity rarely does. And until Land Rover decides to build a modern Defender pickup itself, Urban Automotive may have created the closest thing enthusiasts will ever get—a machine that combines genuine utility with unapologetic luxury, wrapped in enough carbon fiber to make even the most reserved Defender owner reconsider what an off-roader can become.

Source: Urban Automotive

Tuning

Mansory’s “Soft” Lamborghini Urus SE Is Anything But

If this is what Mansory considers subtle, we’d hate to see what it calls outrageous.

The Lamborghini Urus has spent years dominating the super-SUV segment, becoming the brand’s best-selling model and proving that buyers can’t get enough of a 5,000-pound vehicle capable of embarrassing sports cars. Now the plug-in hybrid Urus SE has landed in the hands of Mansory, the German tuner renowned for turning already attention-grabbing exotics into rolling exercises in visual excess. Surprisingly, Mansory describes its latest creation as a “soft kit.” Relative to the company’s usual standards, perhaps that’s true. Relative to reality, not so much.

One glance at the front end confirms that this is no ordinary Urus SE. The standard Lamborghini fascia has been reworked with an aggressive new splitter, additional aerodynamic winglets sprouting from both sides of the bumper, and fresh carbon-fiber detailing surrounding the SUV’s cavernous air intakes. The result is a front end that looks ready to inhale smaller crossovers whole.

The visual drama continues along the flanks. Dominating the profile are enormous 24-inch wheels, available in seven different designs. The example shown by Mansory pairs black spokes with vivid green accents, creating a look that somehow manages to be both tasteful and completely impossible to ignore. Aggressive side skirts, bespoke mirror caps, and prominent carbon-fiber trim on the C-pillars complete the transformation.

Mansory’s “Soft” Lamborghini Urus SE Is Anything But

Around back, subtlety remains absent. A massive roof-mounted spoiler crowns the tailgate, joined by an additional lip spoiler and a redesigned rear diffuser. New quad tailpipe surrounds finish off a rear-end treatment that ensures nobody will mistake this SUV for something factory-built.

As dramatic as the styling changes are, Mansory wasn’t content to stop with appearance upgrades. The Urus SE’s hybrid powertrain already delivers formidable numbers from the factory, combining a twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8 with an electric motor for a total of 800 horsepower and 701 pound-feet of torque. For most manufacturers, those figures would represent the absolute limit of sanity.

For Mansory, they merely represent a starting point.

Through a series of engine and software modifications, the tuner has pushed output to a staggering 1,100 horsepower and 922 pound-feet of torque. Those numbers place the Urus SE firmly in hypercar territory despite its SUV body style, transforming Lamborghini’s family-hauler into something capable of delivering acceleration figures that would have seemed absurd just a few years ago.

No, nobody actually needs 1,100 horsepower in a luxury SUV. Then again, nobody really needs a Lamborghini SUV in the first place. The entire appeal of the Urus has always been rooted in excess, and Mansory’s latest project simply doubles down on that philosophy. The styling is louder, the wheels are bigger, and the power output has climbed to levels normally reserved for seven-figure hypercars.

Mansory may call it a soft kit, but the numbers—and the appearance—tell a very different story.

Source: Mansory

Tuning

Larte Design’s Two-Tone Mercedes-AMG G63 Is a €90,000 Paint Job That Somehow Makes Sense

If there is one thing the Mercedes-AMG G63 has never lacked, it’s presence. With its towering stance, thunderous V-8 soundtrack, and enough visual drama to make a supercar feel self-conscious, the G-Wagen already occupies a unique place in the luxury SUV universe. Apparently, though, there are buyers who look at a six-figure AMG and think: It needs more attention.

That’s where German tuner Larte Design comes in.

Following the introduction of its “Winner” carbon-fiber body kit for the current-generation G63, the Erkrath-based company has unveiled a new personalization program that adds something Mercedes itself doesn’t offer: a fully bespoke two-tone exterior finish.

The premise is simple. According to Larte, many customers eager to get behind the wheel of a G63 don’t want to endure lengthy factory waiting lists and often end up purchasing vehicles finished in colors they never would have chosen. The solution? Buy the G63 now, then let Larte transform it later.

Owners can select virtually any two-color combination imaginable and decide whether the weave of the carbon-fiber body components should remain visible or be painted over. Once specifications are finalized, the SUV is shipped to one of Germany’s specialist paint facilities—the same kind of workshops trusted by several luxury-car manufacturers for their own high-end finishing work.

The result is a G63 that somehow manages to stand out even in a parking lot full of G-Wagens.

Of course, exclusivity isn’t cheap. Larte’s Winner carbon-fiber package, which includes components designed to fit without requiring modifications to the original bodywork, carries a price tag of €44,276 and comes paired with 23-inch wheels. Add the new two-tone paint treatment and buyers will need to find another €45,000.

Yes, that’s nearly €90,000 in upgrades before you’ve even touched the powertrain.

Not that the engine needs much help. Beneath the squared-off hood remains AMG’s familiar 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V-8, producing 585 horsepower and 627 pound-feet (850 Nm) of torque. That’s enough to launch the luxury brick from 0 to 62 mph in 4.4 seconds before it runs into an electronically governed top speed of 137 mph.

So what does almost ninety grand buy you? Not more power. Not more speed. Not even more capability off-road. What it buys is individuality—a commodity that, for many G63 owners, may be worth more than an extra hundred horsepower.

In a world where exclusivity is often measured by how difficult it is to get noticed, Larte Design has found a way to make the Mercedes-AMG G63 even harder to ignore. Whether that’s a brilliant business idea or a symptom of luxury-car excess depends entirely on which side of the €90,000 paint bill you’re standing.

Source: Larte Design