These car tuners will make your dream car a reality

There are only a few things in the world that men (and some women) incessantly pamper: children, pets and cars – and not necessarily in that order; nicknamed, cared for, dressed in new coats and gifted with new toys, the latter are often their ultimate pride and joy.

Craving the newest, shiniest model is commonplace, but it is no longer enough to shell out for a cutting-edge Porsche or Lamborghini. Autophiles want wheels that project their personality and deepest aspirations, thus they will invest in custom-built kits that transform their prized possession into a one-of-a-kind design, even if it costs millions. After all, who wants a ride that everyone else has?

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(Photo courtesy of DMC)

From modifying the outlook – paint job, wheels and aerodynamics – to customising interiors and tuning hardware, ardent car buffs will build, and rebuild, so their baby not only looks her best, but also reflects their own creative drive. Although Hong Kong has stringent regulations on road-vehicle modifications, this has not deterred collectors here from pursuing the car of their dreams with truly unique and functional edits.

Car Sharp

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(Photo courtesy of ReinArt Design)

“In Hong Kong, it’s not special to own a Ferrari or supercar anymore. There are so many!” says Gregor Hans Schoner, Founder and CEO of German luxury automobile designer and modification company DMC. “One of our clients told us that they bought a certain colour of Lamborghini, only to find out that their friend had the exact same one. That’s where we come in. We offer bespoke designs and exclusive materials that will deliver a wow-factor and truly make a vehicle stand out from the rest, including exotic leather choices such as stingray and crocodile.”

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(Photo courtesy of Car Lab)

It’s a growing trend. “In recent years, locals have shown more and more openness to car customisation,” says the team at custom car modifier Car Lab in Hong Kong. “They want to be more involved in the design process and apply unique motifs that reflect their personality. Innovative customisation requests in the past have included colour wrapping for hearses and adding vibrant Chinese couplet livery to a McLaren MP4.”

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(Photo courtesy of DMC)

Internal hardware such as audio and entertainment systems, as well as engine, exhaust and air suspension systems are flipped to suit the comfort and lifestyle of owners, whether it is installing Bang and Olufsen surround sound, gaming consoles or a private theatre on wheels – the possibilities of modifications are seemingly endless nowadays.

 

Also Read: Starting a car collection? 8 classic cars that you should not miss!

Fast & Fabulous

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(Photo courtesy of ReinArt Design)

Car-proud locals favour optical enhancements and aerodynamics, according to Schoner. “Although engine enhancements are not always the focus of Hong Kong clients, they still want the [aesthetic of a fast car],” he says.

Automobile beautifications can cost as much as the car itself. At DMC, which counts Justin Bieber, Cristiano Ronaldo and Korean star Jang Keun-suk among an international clientele, the cheapest package starts at HK$200,000 and can rise to HK$1 million to $2 million. “The most expensive car we built was a Rolls-Royce Ghost for nearly HK$5 million,” shares Schoner.

“The owner, who was gifted a pair of handmade shoes by Donatella Versace, tasked us to match the interior of the car to the colour and material of the footwear. So, we ripped out every inch of the inside and replaced each part with fine Italian leather. We also altered the wheels.”

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(Photo courtesy of ReinArt Design)

But new technologies are widening the scope of modifications, which can result in savings for owners. Better, lighter and more durable materials are available; Forged Carbon Fibre, for instance, once exclusive to Lamborghini, is about five times lighter than steel and is in demand for its rich, marble-like finish. And PPFs (Paint Protection Film), which provide stain resistance and protection from stone chips, are thicker, stronger and more lightweight than before. Previously, they were manufactured as transparent or matte, but now they can emulate the high gloss of vehicle paint.

 

Also Read: Personalised Touch: Custom made décor and furniture you need for the home

Power Makeover

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(Photo courtesy of ReinArt Design)

However wild your dream-car imagination, it can become as good as real by engaging the services of an expert car modifier. ReinART Design, the Hong Kong arm of RAUH-Welt Begriff (RWB), a well-known Porsche 911 tuner in Japan, builds on more than just Porsches, rolling out an impressive repertoire of exceptional work to create exclusive and exotic vehicles tailored to owners’ requests.

Among these was a Ferrari 458 Italia installed with an Innotech Performance F1 Valvetronic exhaust that gives this beast a little more kick, and its owner more control over the volume with a simple press of a button. It was finished with burnt blue titanium triple exhaust tips, and a set of Novitec/KW lowering springs that brought it down about 30mm to hide the “unsightly original OEM fender gap”. This allowed the team to retain the authenticity and timeless beauty of the factory model while giving it a standout makeover.

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(Photo courtesy of ReinArt Design)

The team also fitted Brixton Forged wheels on a Lamborghini Huracan LP610-4 and BMW M235i. Custom built-to-order in Los Angeles, these premium wheel sets are stronger, more durable and more resistant to corrosion and oxidation than cast wheels, and can cost up to HK$80,000 each.

Built to Impress

Like many things in Hong Kong, car parts that are custom-built and designed to owners’ specifications are manufactured outside of the city, imported and installed by trained professionals. You may have to wait for a month for parts to arrive and then the actual alterations can take anywhere from one week to six or 12 months or even longer to complete, depending on the complexities of each project and model.

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(Photo courtesy of ReinArt Design)

The stakes are always high when you’re taking apart and rebuilding a top-tier automobile. There is no room for error, which is why the city’s expert car modifiers ensure that every step in the process, from consultation and planning to material sourcing, installation and finish, not only meet the highest standards and expectations but exceed them, so customers can drive around with pride. The owner of DMC has been known to fly out to a client’s home to oversee installation personally. It takes experience, passion and care to perform such skilled technical work and make those modifications magical.

 

(Text: Roberliza Eugenio)

 

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View Panoramic: Horace Pan, award-winning designer and founder of Panaroma Design Group

As the founder of Panorama Design Group, Horace Pan explores exciting new domains in interior architecture. As a university educator, his mission is to help the next generation of designers build a distinctive Hong Kong identity…

Tell us about your early years.
I’m Indonesian-Chinese, though I was born in China as my parents had emigrated there from Indonesia in the ’60s. Because of all the uncertainty during the Cultural Revolution, they wanted to relocate to their homeland via Hong Kong. Ultimately, they never made it all the way, and I’ve pretty much spent my whole life here. The international influences of my childhood have really left their mark on me, giving me a unique perspective that informs my work as an interior designer.

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What led you to found Panorama Design Group?
I practised interior design for seven years before starting Panorama. Then I had a gut feeling that I should explore new domains of interior design and new methodologies, taking a different approach to what I was already doing. I thought the best way to accomplish this was to found my own company.

Does your firm have a particular area of speciality?
Panorama is headquartered in Hong Kong, with branches across Chinese cities such as Shenzhen and Chengdu, as well as an upcoming location in Malaysia. We specialise in many different domains of interior design across the region. We do hotels, club houses and F&B venues, for example, and health- and wellbeing-oriented spaces, so we are pretty multi-disciplinary and also cover many different topologies of space.

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What would you say are the unique selling points of Panorama?
It’s really in the name itself, and for us ‘Panorama’ means ‘wide-angled’ and ‘full-spectrum’, so I would like my team to have a different, unexpected approach to any projects and initiatives we collaborate on. Let’s take a hotel, for example. We don’t want to follow the traditional precepts of design, but rather focus on creating a kind of crossover experience. This is exactly what we did for MeeHotel in Shenzhen last year, a project that’s garnered us 12 international awards so far, with several judges praising us for breaking new ground in the boutique hotel domain. I think its success is largely down to the fact that we combined a keen understanding of the local culture and bamboo materials with a unique spa-like overall concept for what is actually a business hotel.

Ultimately, whether you call it a surprise, a breakthrough or a point of difference, our design firm is known for creating something unexpected. We’re famous for conceiving this kind of branding or commercial design strategy before we come up with any proposal. This leads to another of our strengths – research – which is critical to any successful project.

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How has the ongoing coronavirus pandemic affected your business?
The biggest issue is that we can’t cross the border into mainland China, where the bulk of our projects are located. Right now, we can only see the sites virtually through apps like Zoom, which some clients are understandably not thrilled about. Though our ongoing projects have adjusted to the new normal, it’s with new proposals that we encountered the most challenges. For Chinese clients, we are considered a foreign consultancy, so we really had to go the extra mile to persuade them that they should choose us rather than, say, a local contractor who can oversee everything in person. The onus has been on us to prove – be it through past success stories or a cohesive agenda that outlines the entire design and construction process – that we can still produce a superior product for them despite our location.

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Do you have any exciting new projects in the pipeline?
Absolutely. We are in the midst of designing new elements and experiences for luxury brands in department stores in China, which we will be rolling out soon. In the first of these, we’re exploring a crossover of the spheres of art, technology and fashion to set a new benchmark for how consumers experience high-end brands.

Your projects have earned more than 150 international accolades. Which one is particularly close to your heart?
That would have to be my first award-winning project, the one that won me top honours in the Living Space category of the 2000 Asia-Pacific Interior Design Awards. This was roughly around the time I started Panorama. I was the only one of the five finalists who was an independent entry, and I got the shock of my life when my name was called as the winner. Interestingly enough, the project – Pan House – was actually my own home. It was a small three-storey village house sandwiched between two other similar structures. I think the reason why it garnered such critical acclaim is because I successfully transformed the traditional space into an entirely new domain. Each floor features a uniform grey cement motif, but I fitted different coloured filters to the windows to create separate atmospheres for each level.

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How do you rate Hong Kong’s interior design industry on a global level?
I think our biggest strength is that we are used to delivering projects within a short time span, with capabilities of revamping restaurants, residences and the like within a few short months. This is our unique edge, because other countries can’t match our fast-paced work ethic.

Having said that, there is one serious shortfall in that we don’t have a true ‘local identity’ per se because a lot of our cultural heritage and architecture has pretty much been erased. This is no good for local designers. You need to have roots and craftsmanship traditions that inform your designs, as they have in other countries like Japan and Sweden. There’s no such thing as a ‘Hong Kong style’, I think, and I feel conflicted about this and try to address it in my capacity as an Assistant Professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Finally, could you tell us something people don’t know about you.
I was approached by Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai’s team to lend Pan House as the set for the romantic drama film 2046, starring actres Faye Wong. Ultimately, I declined, as I didn’t want too many people in my personal space.

Thank you.

 

Interview by: Tenzing Thondup
Photos: Jack Law
Videography: Kingsley Lau
Styling & Art Direction: Jhoshwa Ledesma
Venue: Panorama Design Group office