From racing tracks to luxury garages, Luis Gono shares his hands-on experience in car modifications. Learn his top tips on safety, style, and choosing the right upgrades without compromising your car.
Customizing and personalizing an item is a great way to make it uniquely your own. Some people customize everyday items like tumblers, pens, and notebooks, while others prefer tailor-made clothing that suits their style and fits perfectly. Then there are the extreme customizers—like those who modify cars, often luxury cars, taking personalization to a whole new level.
The world of car customization is like the Circuit de Monaco F1 track: precision matters, and there’s almost no room for error. That’s why we reached out to a car modification expert to guide us through the high-stakes world of luxury car customization.
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Ask The Expert
Luis Gono is the Vice President of Autoplus Sports, a performance workshop founded by his father over three decades ago. He is now gradually taking the reins of the workshop, overseeing day-to-day operations while shaping its direction for the next generation of car enthusiasts.
Before stepping into the business full-time, Luis was an active competitor in the local motorsports scene. He was part of the first team to win the Vios Cup Championship in 2014 and later became the first Formula V1 Champion in 2018. His racing experience also extended to drifting, with multiple seasons under his belt, including a stint at the 2018 FIA Intercontinental Drifting Cup in Odaiba, Japan.
Since shifting his focus to Autoplus Sports, Luis has stepped back from competitive racing to concentrate on building and refining cars for clients—using his firsthand experience to help others experience the same sense of enjoyment and connection he once found on the track.
Why do people modify luxury cars?
Luis: It really depends on the person! Some people build cars to race, some for personal driving, and some customize them for Instagram.
What’s the number one “DO” every luxury car owner should never forget?
Luis: The more expensive your car is, the more expensive the parts become. Don’t cheap out on repairs and maintenance. It may cause bigger problems in the long run. Look at the parts’ costs relative to the price of your car. Having a 7-digit repair bill on an 8-digit vehicle isn’t out of the ordinary. Be ready for it.
How do you keep modifications classy?
Luis: First, it’s like seeing someone dressed from head to toe in designer clothes. That doesn’t necessarily make their outfit good. In the same way, slapping on a bunch of branded parts won’t make a car look nice right away. Expensive doesn’t mean good, and cheap doesn’t automatically mean ugly. I’ve seen a lot of supercars that don’t look good, and I’ve also seen a lot of tastefully built daily cars. You’ll need to consider your end goal when choosing which parts to install. To ensure everything is cohesive when installed.
Which modifications actually add value, and which ones negatively impact resale?
Luis: If you look at resale value when modifying your car, you should look for a different hobby. At the end of the day, value is not just monetary. Value is also the happiness the mods and car will bring you.
What’s the safety-first precaution for someone new to luxury cars?
Luis: For new high-end cars, ask your dealer if they offer an extended warranty. It will save you a lot of money in the long run. Since new vehicles have a lot of new tech, especially in hybrids, we have many different computer modules that could glitch out. Having an extended warranty acts like an insurance policy. So you’re confident that even if something breaks, the repair bill won’t be too bad.
How do you choose quality over hype?
Luis: I try as many of the available parts on the market as I can on my own cars. This is so we can test which parts work and which don’t. So by the time our customers ask us which is best, we’ll already have done our own testing.
When do you know it’s time to stop modifying and just let the car be?
Luis: I haven’t stopped modifying my cars, and it’s already concerning. So if you do find an answer for this, please let me know.
Frequently Asked Queestions
Luis Gono is the Vice President of Autoplus Sports, a performance car workshop founded by his father more than three decades ago in the Philippines. A former competitive racing driver, Gono was part of the first team to win the Vios Cup Championship in 2014 and became the first Formula V1 Champion in 2018 before shifting his focus to building and refining cars for clients.
According to Luis Gono, the most important principle is not to compromise on parts and maintenance costs relative to the car’s value. On a high-end vehicle, repair bills in the seven-digit range are not unusual, and cutting costs on components can lead to significantly larger problems over time.
Luis Gono advises against approaching car modifications primarily through the lens of resale value, noting that the worth of a modification is not purely monetary — it includes the enjoyment and personal connection the car brings. Modifications are rarely a reliable path to increased resale value and are better approached as a form of personal expression.
Luis Gono recommends purchasing an extended warranty through the dealership, particularly for new high-end vehicles with advanced hybrid technology and multiple computer modules. An extended warranty functions as a financial safeguard, ensuring that unexpected technical failures do not result in prohibitive repair costs.
Luis Gono tests parts on his own vehicles before recommending them to clients, ensuring that Autoplus Sports’ guidance is grounded in firsthand performance testing rather than brand reputation or market hype. This approach allows the workshop to distinguish between parts that perform well and those that are simply well-marketed.
