VIP style
car modification trend
VIP style (Japanese: ビップカー, lit. 'VIP car') is a car modification trend that translates from the Romanised Japanese term 'bippu.' It refers to the modification of Japanese luxury automobiles to make them lower and wider in stance, with more aggressive wheels, suspension, and body kits. VIP Style cars are typically large, rear-wheel drive luxury sedans, although automotive enthusiasts sometimes use other cars such as minivans or kei cars.
VIP cars were once associated with the Yakuza; however, VIP style modifications are now a subset of their own as automotive modifications. As a trend, it differentiates itself from the traditional origins of the term VIP otherwise associated with the concept of a "very important person".
The VIP style has become a loose appropriation of the term perpetuated amongst enthusiasts that goes beyond traditional VIP cars.
History
Early VIP style is said to have evolved partly from the Haiso style of modifying sedans in the 1980s. VIP modifications and their history have often been linked to the Yakuza, although the accuracy and extent of this connection is disputed. By using JDM cars with modifications associated with limousines, it is said that gangsters could avoid detection by the police and rival gangs.
Both Osaka street racers and Kanto-area bōsōzoku gangs adopted styles in different ways. Osaka street racers, after suffering numerous police crackdowns on the Hanshin Expressway in the early 1990s, turned to sedans, after police targeted sport compacts, as a way to cruise while remaining incognito.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “VIP style” is car modification trend. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through style, modification and trend, not as a finished interpretation.
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This entry incorporates text from “VIP style” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.