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The hottest modern sports cars rendered as rally racers

The modern-day World Rally Championship a monumental amount of fun to watch – I should know, as I recently was lucky enough to head to the UK to watch WRC Wales Rally GB – but even the most monstrous of the current WRC cars are based on fairly pedestrian European hatchbacks. Back in the heyday of rally, the Group B era in the 1980s, much hotter cars were the basis of even more incredible competition machines, for the most part. Take the exotic Ford RS200, or the Lancia Delta S4 with its twin-charged engine. And the hatchback-based Group B cars were bonkers, too. So what would some of our favorite modern cars look like if Group B had never ended? A British site named CarWow hired an artist to reimagine everything from the Rolls-Royce Wraith to the Porsche 911 as a retro-inspired rally car, and they were kind enough to let us share the results in the gallery above. The gallery features an Alfa Romeo Giulia in Martini livery, an Audi TT in classic Ur-Quattro colors, a Fiat 500 Abarth sporting massive flares and a hood blister full of auxiliary lights, a new Ford Mustang in RS200 livery, a Lancia Delta in Alitalia colors, a Porsche 911 in Rothmans livery, a Renault-Alpine in classic blue, a Rolls-Royce Wraith tribute to the Jules cologne Corniche Coupe, and a relatively modern-looking VW Touran. So far, the favorite around the office is the incredible Mercedes-Benz S-Class that is an homage to the wonderful 300 SEL 6.8 AMG "Red Pig" that essentially put AMG on the map. Check out the gallery above and see which one you like the best. Related Video:

Mansory-tuned Rolls-Royce Cullinan is dubious decadence

German tuner Mansory doesn't do subtle, but its latest take on the Rolls-Royce Cullinan goes above and beyond in the flamboyance department. It celebrated the opening of its first showroom in Dubai by giving the British SUV a love-it-or-hate-it redesign inside and out. Nearly every part of the Cullinan's exterior has been modified. Mansory installed a full body kit that adds a deeper front bumper with extra air intakes and a splitter, vents chiseled into the fenders, side skirts, a spoiler above the rear window, and a sizeable rear diffuser. Flared wheel arches cover 24-inch forged wheels, and many of the exterior add-ons feature a black, gray, and white finish that almost looks like granite, a resemblance we're guessing is intentional. And, don't look for chrome: The bright bits were made black to give the SUV a more sinister look. Inside, the granite-esque finish appears on most of the trim pieces, and Mansory fitted leather upholstery with a wave-like motif on the door panels and on the center consoles — there are two in the Cullinan. The passenger sitting in the back enjoy individual power-adjustable seats upholstered in different colors, tray tables integrated into the front seatbacks, and an outline of the United Arab Emirates in the headliner. The same outline is stitched into the rear headrests and into the seatbelts, which also gain a white Mansory-branded stripe. Mansory didn't publish precise technical specifications, but we know that it didn't leave the drivetrain untouched. It quotes an output of 610 horsepower and 701 pound-feet of torque, while the stock Cullinan's 6.75-liter V12 posts 563 and 627, respectively. Another detail that hasn't been released yet is pricing. But, if you need to ask, odds are you're not the kind of customer that Mansory wants to lure into its showroom. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Work begins on new Rolls-Royce Phantom, PHEV likely

After reporting that a new Rolls-Royce Phantom would arrive sometime around 2017 in the same timeframe as a Rolls-Royce SUV, Autocar has a few more details on the next coming of the massive English sedan. Both its skin and its bones are being worked out right now, brand design head Giles Taylor telling the magazine that his team is "treading an evolutionary path" with the model, suggesting it will have "more charisma and more edge" as part of a future design language that will have "a charismatic expressiveness."
True, that gives us absolutely no indication of what the car will look like, but it seems fair to assume it will feature more curves and detailing than the present car. The long C-pillar will remain, though, the privacy it affords being "part of the Phantom recipe."
What's underneath could be more detailed as well, the report saying BMW is mulling an i3 kind of build, with an aluminum chassis supporting a carbon fiber bodyshell. Assuming production considerations and costs could be kept in line, the benefits would be a lighter car that offers more latitude with the design, easier implementation of new bodystyles and the segment's technology crown. A lighter Phantom would bring further rewards for its PHEV variant, which Autocar says is "a certainty."