The modified cars of the Geneva Motor Show

Pottering around the Geneva motor show is like wandering around a crystal ball. Pirouetting under the bright lights and stale air of the Palexpo are the next generation of cars that we’ll get behind the wheel of very soon. Cars like the Ford Fiesta ST, Honda Civic Type R, McLaren 720S and Ferrari 812 Superfast.

And a few cars from last year's show have conspicously sneaked in under new guises, too. Guises consisting mostly of carbon fibre, garish paint schemes, more carbon and monster wheels. Yep, it’s the world of the tuners.

No car is safe. This year, the Bentley Bentayga, Rolls Royce Dawn and Maserati Levante were all chopped, sprayed and slammed and put centre stage. In Geneva, big tuners aren’t banished to the shadows of a second trade hall, their strip-lit stands rub shoulders with all the major OEMs to create a visual mish-mash like no other show this side of SEMA.

For your benefit, Top Gear has selflessly picked out the good, the bad and the, um, questionable, from the 87th Geneva show for your (dis)pleasure. So click forth and let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Mansory. Veterans of the tuning scene return to Geneva with the Siracusa 4XX Spider: a matte black FXX K inspired Ferrari 488 Spider with its 3.9-litre twin-turbocharged V8 turned up to 790bhp. Yikes.

Did you think Mercedes' G-Wagen G500 4x4 squared with its twin suspension for each wheel assembly, portal axles and multiple diff locks was a bit, erm, 'soft'? Nah, us neither. But Brabus obviously did as the German merchants of horsepower have reworked the wet-sumped version of the new 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 from the AMG GT sports car to make a not-inconsiderable 550 bhp, added electronically adjustable suspension for even more ground clearance, a winch and lots of lights.

You certainly won’t mistake this for a standard R8. With more aggressive folds in the body kit, larger air intakes, and a generally much more aggressive stance, it's a fighty little thing. It’s the work of ABT, a tuner synonymous with VW Group products, and perhaps one of the more tastefully tuned R8s out there. But these things are always subjective.

Happily, the punchy styling upgrade covers up actual mechanic upgrades too, something that’s not always the case in the supercar tuning scene. So there are new suspension components, a 50kg weight drop (significant, though ABT’s not told us what it’s binned) and a stainless steel exhaust system. As well as even more noise for the R8’s wondrous V10, that brings another 20bhp, taking the R8 V10 Plus’s total output to 621bhp.

The Levante is Maserati's first foray into the elevated and competitive world of SUVs. But SUVs are prime cuts of car that the tuning world loves to devour – primarily because they have big arches to fill with BIG wheels. Like the 22-inch Mansory rims that are housed under those new wider arches. There's also a carbon bonnet similar to the GranTurismo MC Stradale, a front lip with side flaps and integrated LED daytime running lights, new front splitter, carbon mirror housings and a new even more teethy grille.

Ladies and gentleman, welcome a newcomer to the Geneva show floor – Japanese tuner Liberty Walk. It's a well-established member of the tuning fraternity but has never breached the commercial world of a heavily corporate international motor show. Until now, as Wataru Kato, the boss of the fabled tuning company, showed off his 458 alongside a McLaren 650S at this year's show. As you can see, the wheel arches and wings are cut, bashed and pulled to accommodate the ultra-wide 20-inch wheels. It has a (very) wide arch body kit screwed on. Yep. Screwed on.

Essentially, it’s been modified the same way da yoof customise 80,000-mile Golfs. But it’s a Ferrari 458 Italia. An Italian thoroughbred that cost someone £178,526, gets from 0-62mph in 3.4 seconds, tops out at 202mph, and has a 4.5-litre V8 designed and built with the very cleverest thought. Just now it has rivets puncturing its bodywork, a paralysing fear of speed bumps and a shouty aftermarket exhaust.

It's safe to say that the Porsche Panamera has had a tough time over the years trying to get people to warm to its looks, something the latest generation has seen to, thankfully. To celebrate all that hard work in aesthetic advancement, Mansory decided to decorate one in a radical carbon fibre aerodynamic package contrasted with eye-popping Candy Red paint.

The whale tail is dead, long live the whale tail. Well, that's according to notorious Porsche tuner, Gemballa. If there was a rosette to be pinned on a car for 'Best Wing', this Turbo-based Avalanche would be walking away with the honours. It's not just one wing but three. And fully adjustable to work with the big rear diffuser that sits below the trademark Gemballa quad pipes. And because of a new turbocharger system, intake manifolds, throttle valve bodies, reworked cylinder heads and valves, power now stands at a punchy 820bhp. Just be thankful there are three wings to stop the 911 taking flight.

BMW made the world’s first and only petrol-electric hybrid supercar with the i8. But that wasn't good enough for AC Schnitzer. See, proper supercars need wings. So they added wings. They also need to be low. So AC lowered the carbon-tubbed i8 by 25 mm at the front and 20 mm at the rear. Then painted it red for good measure.

To some, chopping the roof off a baby Range Rover was one modification too far in the first place. But that was done in-house. So to further stir the pot, German tuner Hamann decided to add this rather attention-grabbing body kit. To harness the performance from the newly-tweaked 210bhp engine upgrade, there's a huge rear diffuser with integrated central exhaust pipe as well as massive multi-spoke wheels. If you don't get noticed in this, you may as well give up. Or paint yourself blue and walk around naked.

McLaren is the latest supercar manufacturer to be bitten by the Liberty Walk bug and has received its social media friendly treatment. See, the whole ‘look’ of wide/retro arches & rivnuts has gone a bit mental. Primarily, because taking an angle-grinder to the carbon fibre arches of a £200k+ supercar and following a marker pen line to chop is, well, a bit mad. But that's what the kids these days want, so that's what they get.

This year marks 20 years since FAB Design erupted onto the tuning scene. Instead of blowing out twenty candles on a Victoria Sponge, it made a very carbon, very wide throwback mod of a Mercedes-McLaren SLR for a birthday cake. We'll have the Victoria Sponge, thanks.

If there was ever a car bound to have its fate delivered into the hands of Mansory it was the Bentley Bentayga. This 'Black' edition is, err, black. But also features a lot of this trendy new-fangled layered matte carbon finish that's replacing the traditional weave. It makes the bonnet, side skirts, fenders and bumper surrounds look like the work surfaces you'll find in a Premiership footballer's kitchen. Which is probably quite fitting. Collars and cuffs and all that.

The AMG GT S has one of the classiest silhouettes on the road. Curvaceous and effortless, it looks elegant wherever it's parked. FAB design decided to make it less curvaceous, courtesy of a carbon body kit. And a giant wing. The tuner also uprated the twin-turbo V8 to 700bhp. Which is, erm, brave. If you want to see one for yourselves, we'd recommend going to the Geneva show or looking for one in a German hedgerow shortly.