If you’re looking for an attention-grabbing SUV that makes Overfinch Range Rovers look comparatively plain, then Gemballa has just the thing for you. It’s the most outrageous-looking SUV to ever grace our news section, but quite probably the most impressive, too.
As is typical with any Gemballa overhaul, the Cayenne has been fully kitted out with carbon fibre. Apart from the steel body, rear quarter and roof panels, almost all of the Cayenne’s steel components have been replaced with carbon-fibre units. That means the bonnet, front wings, side sill covers, doors, flared arches, front and rear bumpers, and rear hatch are all made from the stuff, shedding around 70 kilos in the process.
The Cayenne takes on an entirely new look up front thanks to a menacing new grille, flanked by two smaller air inlets that feed the Tornado’s twin turbocharged power plant. The Cayenne also gains vertical LED daytime running lights, while down the flanks, Gemballa has left segments of the carbon-fibre doors exposed.
This is the same at the rear with carbon fibre on show on the tail panel and rear corners. A new four-pipe exhaust system completes the Cayenne’s rear-end transformation along with a carbon-fibre Gemballa badge to show everyone this isn’t an average Cayenne. The Tornado’s flared wheel arches are filled by stunning 22-inch five-spoke alloys, not all that dissimilar to those found on the BMW M6.
Gemballa has also uprated the Cayenne’s stoppers with new Brembo six-pot callipers mated to larger discs, and with good cause, too. Gemballa already offers a stage-one tuning kit for the Cayenne that sees it churn out an incredible 580hp, but the Tornado improves on this even further. Thanks to a stage-two kit currently still in development, it will offer something in the region of 700bhp and 1,000Nm of torque! Only 30 Tornados will be built and most have already been snapped up.