This Time, It Had to Be LARTE

Hey, I’m Ricardo from Portugal. This isn’t my first time tuning a car—I’ve had X5s, 7 Series, even a Defender. I’ve seen enough builds to know when it’s worth going all in. But the XM? That was new territory. I wasn’t going to take chances.

I ordered the car straight from the factory, Label Red, untouched. The moment I saw it in person, I knew one thing: I didn’t want it to look like just another stock build. Too many people keep the shell and throw some aftermarket stuff on top. That’s not me. If I was going to upgrade it, it had to be the real deal — cohesive, powerful, and precise. I wanted carbon, front to back. And I wanted it fast.

I found LARTE through Google while researching high-end kits for the XM. The more I looked into them, the clearer it became: this wasn’t just a body kit brand. These guys knew how to speak design. I reached out, and from that first message, everything moved like clockwork. My manager Elizabeth handled everything.

When the kit arrived in Portugal, I didn’t wait a day. The full carbon setup was exactly what I pictured—sculpted, tight, aggressive without shouting. The finish was flawless. But the part that surprised me the most? The wheels. I had my doubts about forged wheels at first. Would they hold up? Would they look right with this build? But the second I saw them mounted—with those custom red pinstripes matching the car’s accents—I knew we nailed it.

And that’s when I made the final call. I didn’t want any more BMW badges on this car. Not on the hood. Not on the rear. Not even on the wheels. I asked LARTE to swap them all—and they did. Every badge, every detail now says LARTE. Why? Because this car doesn’t feel like a BMW anymore. It feels like something else entirely. I wanted everyone who sees it to know exactly who made it look like this.

The car lives in Portugal now, and trust me — people stop. They ask. They stare. But that’s not why I built it. I wanted something right. Something that makes you look twice, not because it screams, but because it whispers with purpose.

And that’s exactly what this is.