The Tesla Model 3 completely transformed the electric car market, proving EVs could be relatively cheap, practical, and yet also faster than a BMW M3 (at the time). However, Elon Musk never gave it the same attention as the big boy Model S, meaning customers had to figure out how to get Plaid magic on their own.
Every time somebody talks about tuning a Tesla, you get that sickening feeling, like they’re about to eat something bad. For some reason, it doesn’t feel natural. Maybe it’s because these are streamlined EVs, where all the engineering has to be hidden away. So tuning them is as stupid as gluing rhinestones on the back of a new iPhone to make it more valuable.
However, many of the biggest tuning shops in the world have developed body kits for Teslas, ranging from the subtle Startech package for the Model Y to that crazy Competition Carbon package fitted to the Model S for SEMA 2022.
Akira Nakai is a Japanese tuner who founded the Porsche widebody specialist company RAUH-Welt Begriff or RWD. I can’t say that Liberty Walk or Rocket Bunny are polluted, but Nakai’s vision remains one of the purest in the industry, as he just focuses on a few retro Porsche 911 models, the 930, 993, and 964, always done in his trademark raw style.
Want a RAUH-Welt Porsche Cayman? Talk to somebody else. A RWB Volkswagen Beetle? There’s a person for that too, in Brazil. The purity of this tuning brand attracts attention from the rendering world too, and today, we learned that the artist known as Kyza was tasked with making a RWB Tesla Model 3. Out of all the cars in the world, it has the least in common with old Porsches, which makes this a hugely entertaining combination.
The rendering was commissioned by Air Lift Performance, a company specializing in stance car suspension. However, the vision is Kyza’s alone, and he completely redesigned the front end of the Tesla to have massive air intakes. Beyond that, it has the usual massive fender flares that bolt directly into the body, adding about a foot to the sides.
What it takes to “Rough World” a Tesla
Rotiform wheels are used to fill out the fender flares, while the back features a duckbill spoiler and a large diffuser requiring the lower bumper to be cut off. All the elements can be found on real RWB builds, but none of them are directly copied from Porsches.
For example, the rear diffuser look can be attributed to Akira-san’s TWB Rotana, the famous purple 993 in bright purple. The front end features modified lights, but they’re not Porsche-like. In fact, the bumper reminds me of the Rimac Nevera.
I sincerely doubt the Model 3 would ever be regarded the same as a classic Porsche 911. There were about 1,700 Porsche 930 models imported Stateside for 1978-79, for example, while the Tesla is one of the most popular cars in the world.
But, 40 years from now, when everything is electric, everything is autonomous, and all the Ford Mustangs have been EV-swapped, people are going to look up “most important EV of 2018” and find pictures of the 3er. Maybe then, the Akira Nakai of the future will RWB a “classic Tesla.”
