If anything, it's larger than ever.

That's according to Ben Woo, one of the organizers of this year's Sport Compact Performance Auto Salon, held last weekend in Montreal's Stade olympique.

During the eight years the SCP's been held here, the tuner scene has evolved beyond the stereotypical slammed-Honda Civics that the term "sport compact" conjures up for most casual observers.

Woo says the current tuner culture can be broken down into four segments: traditional sports compact, high-performance, custom and dub, and drifting.

Another sign of the tuner lifestyle's maturation and growth is the addition of new carmakers to what has predominantly been an aftermarket venue.

This year, General Motors was front and centre with the Canadian debut of its 2008 Chevrolet HHR SS. GM was also a key sponsor in the show's main attraction: the Castrol Top Tuner Super Sky concept.

For the second year in a row, Tajai Das of Ajax led the Top Tuner team – billed as "the country's top custom car builders" – in creating SCP's featured show car.

Although the two cars share a similar green paint scheme, compared to last year's Top Tuner Pontiac Solstice, this year's Saturn Sky concept was a more adventurous from an engineering standpoint.

Highlights include a 762 mm stretch to the frame in the rear, and the windshield was moved forward by 458 mm.

A Corvette V8 with "more than 1,000 hp" was swapped for the Sky's production four and was moved amidships. There's also a targa roof and central driving position.

In addition to GM, 39 other companies pitched in with parts and engineering know-how.

Combined with the Top Tuner team's labour, Das estimates the Super Sky's build costs at over $1,000,000.

Something a little more accessible was Chevrolet's new HHR SS.

You may know the HHR as Chevy's PT Cruiser – a tall wagon on a front-drive compact chassis.

It was initially seen this past summer at the famous Woodward Dream Cruise in Detroit.

It's also the first Chevrolet SS vehicle developed under the guidance of GM's Performance Division.

In theory replacing the discontinued Cobalt SS SuperCharged as Chevy's entry in the factory-tuned sport compact market, the HHR SS promises to be more than a decal-and-dub wannabe.

The 2.0 L turbocharged four spits out 260 hp. A five-speed manual is standard and comes with a sport suspension tuned on Germany's fabled Nürburgring track.

GM is holding on to HHR SS pricing details until closer to its arrival in showrooms in December.

Beyond the new carmakers, aftermarket vendors and tuner shops here, some of the most interesting rides on the Olympic Stadium floor were found among the more than 450 entries in this year's show-and-shine competition.

Admittedly, the majority of the vehicles entered were compacts of Asian car-brand descent. But there were also American low riders, pickups, Euro touring car replicas, high-riding Jeeps and a few other surprises.

Anna He, the racing director of Markham, Ont.-based Sweetie Girl Racing, came to SCP to show off her 1989 Honda CRX race car.

She's currently racing in the CASC's Solo Sprint Series and is a good example of how the image of the sport compact scene as a bunch of street racing testosterone-fuelled males is simply wrong.

Then I found Montreal's Eric Hannan and his LS-300.

The founder of Hannan Customs builds custom choppers. Actually, custom bicycles. You know –the kind you have to pedal.

Almost 3 m in length, Hannan's LS-300 wears wickedly wide rear slicks. They look like you would have to be seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong to get the bike rolling.

Hannan explained that his designs are based on the efficiencies of rowing machine kinetics.

He's competed in bicycle drag racing competitions (who knew!), claiming 0-to-32 km/h runs in 14 seconds (apparently that's fast in the bicycle drag world).

With its low-slung seating, I commented that his LS-300 reminded me of a recumbent bicycle.

"Yeah, but on my bike, you won't look like a geek."