This Restomod Premier 118 NE Looks Like a Tuner/Muscle Car Hybrid

Premier Automobile Ltd was one of the oldest car manufacturers in India. The company was responsible for the iconic Padmini, and later, the 118 NE. Here, we have a beautifully restored example of the latter, modified into a beautiful muscle car lookalike!

The car we have here has been meticulously restored and customised, and looks like the epitome of tuner culture in India. Let’s list all the visible changes to the car. The front-end of the car sports a new grille design, a cut-out mesh on a metal plate. The headlights are also custom, with a square-ish design and projector lights and angel-eyed LEDs inside. The indicator lights are quite large in proportion to the rest of the car. The car also has a custom body kit, which surrounds the entire car.

At the side, we see new custom alloy wheels, deep dish with multi-spoke design. The rear of the car is extremely handsome. The taillights are all-LED units stretching from the corners till the near centre of the tail section, where the numberplate resides. There is small auxiliary light hanging from the left side of the rear bumper, which is probably the parking light. The exhaust is also a custom unit.

The interior of the car features a lot of changes as well. You get an infotainment system, which we’re sure was never available on the original car! Apart from that, there are custom gauges on the new, BMW dashboard. The seats are also BMW-sourced, with electrical adjustability. Surprisingly, the car also offers rear AC vents!

The Premier 118 NE was based on the Fiat 124 sedan. Some readers might be aware that the ‘124’ was an extremely popular nameplate for Fiat back in the day, and the Italian carmaker revived the name in 2016 with its budget sports car, the Fiat 124 Spider. The 118 NE was originally powered by a 1171cc engine, capable of generating 53 PS and 79 Nm of peak power and torque, respectively. A diesel version was also available, called '138 D'. It had a 1,367cc motor, with 43 PS and 67 Nm on tap.