Pimp My Golf Cart

With the rising price of gasoline coupled with the growing popularity of the sport of golf among the rich and famous, it's only natural that the once humble and mostly utilitarian golf cart has become the chosen mode of everyday transportation for many people, and an increasingly popular golf course status symbol for the MTV Generation. In recent years, even some of the major automobile companies like Chrysler, GM, and even Lamborghini have been getting into this market.

In fact, some of the highest end of these customized golf carts can range from $8000 to nearly $40,000.

Bad Ass Golf Carts

While car customizers have been around for decades, there are also customizers, like Bad Ass Golf Carts in Las Vegas, who have crossed-over to personalizing the golf carts of the rich and famous. Bad Ass Golf Carts' highest-end and most outrageous golf cart accessories might include a plasma television, a Playstation, a X-box game console, satellite radio, high-end audio system, air conditioning, a video projection system, a light and strobe show, a thumping bass system, and even a GPS that measures pin distance for golfers.

Replicas

There are other customizers who specialize in converting golf cart bodies into scaled-down "replica" versions of automotive classics like the 1957 Chevy. In fact, some of these types of customizers have actually licensed designs directly from car companies like General Motors. Two of the most popular examples of this replication trend include scaled-down versions of luxury models like Cadillac Escalade and H2 Hummer. These luxury model customizations have been dubbed "golf cars" as opposed to "golf carts."

Tonino Lamborghini Golf Cart

Italian luxury automotive manufacturer Lamborghini's version of the golf cart was actually licensed to Tonino Lamborghini, a company affiliated with but not owned by Lamborghini.

H2 Hummer Golf Cart

The H2 Hummer Golf Cart sells for as high as $38,000. It comes with chrome grille, alloy wheels, custom stereo, and beverage coolers.

Chrysler GEM

Chrysler is the only one of The Big Three American car companies that's currently directly involved in the manufacture and sale of their own GEM golf cart brand. In fact, Chrysler's GEM (Global Electronic Motorcar) has been around since 1998.

For ten years, it's offered a popular traditional model geared specifically to golf course communities. Most notable, Chrysler also played a prime mover role in influencing the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to designate a new class of vehicle, the low-speed vehicle or Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV).

While the GEM has been known for its no-nonsense and plain-vanilla design, Chrysler introduced a new model for more upscale customers in 2006, the GEM eL XD. This vehicle is a long-back utility vehicle version of the GEM with more accessories offered.

SOURCES:

"A custom ride", Damon Hack, New York Times

"Pimp My Cart", Bret Nelson, Forbes

"Golf carts go luxury", Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNN

"Pimp My Golf Cart", CNET