2010 Tokyo Auto Salon (TAS) Show – Part 3

We’ve been keeping in close contact this weekend with Chris Jue, who is feeding us live daily updates from the Tokyo Auto Salon show. Held at the Makuhari Messe convention center in Tokyo, Japan, the Tokyo Auto Salon is an aftermarket car show that open to the public. It’s part New York Auto Show and it’s part SEMA Show, all wrapped up into one.

As opposed to a lifestyle tuning car show, Tokyo Auto Salon is serious about customization. Companies such as J’s Racing, Spoon Sports, Varis, DAMD, Top Fuel and Tomei join OEMs like Nismo and Toyota with standard auto show style displays. The hall is well-lit and you aren’t likely to find any neon strobes or mirrored floors. But, unlike SEMA, the Tokyo Auto Salon is open to the public on weekends. Diehard Japanese tuning fans pour through the show, eager to see the latest demo cars and tuning trends running through Japan.

Option magazine had this S14 Nissan Silvia, fit with a set of white Blitz BRW Profile wheels

D1 Grand Prix series pro drift cars were all over the Tokyo Auto Salon. Kawabata’s widebody S13 Nissan 180SX represented the Toyo Tires booth

The Z34 Nissan 370Z was also popular at the TAS show. Varis had this black example in their booth, sporting a carbon fiber front lip, air intake duct, side skirts, hood and wing. We’d love to test soon what effect the ducts have, if any

Car Service Hiro’s chop-top Subaru Impreza WRX isn’t brand new for this year but its unique looks haven’t faded yet. With a fully built EJ20 engine and roll cage, this show car is also a regular at the racetrack

There’s no doubt about it, drifting has become popular across the world. Where there’s a track or parking lot, somebody is driving sideways. But it all started in Japan and they haven’t let anyone forget it yet. Drift cars were common at TAS and this big turbo SR20DET engine bay is pretty typical of most amateur and lower pro level cars

Now this is a large amount of camber

Honda had the Insight Modulo Touring racecar on display, which appeared to be modified with mostly just Modulo parts. With its incredible fuel economy, we’re sure that this Insight would be a good match to one of the many modded Toyota Priuses at TAS in an endurance race

The Fiat 500 Abarth Edition is a 135hp turbocharged three-cylinder that weighs only 2200lbs and looks the way the Yaris should. It’s coming to the US in 2011 but with 170hp. Weight should be up a bit but we hope not too much. It’s popular in Europe and we hear it’s a blast to drive. We’ll keep our eye out for this one

Besides the FT-86, Toyota also went muscle-flexing crazy on the Prius. The resulting Prius Custom Plus Concept has a bizarrely aggressive body, carbon fiber accents and gold trimmed wheels

Speed Racer’s new ride?

Although not as common as the GT-R or Prius, some vintage cars were on display at the Tokyo Auto Salon

We haven’t seen too many four-rotor engines running in street cars but we have seen a few racing examples push past 900hp. Sitting in front of the R Magic Mazda RX-8, this monstrous rotary setup needs to go into a time attack machine

Option magazine had a completely Nissan Skyline GT-R-only display with a sign proclaiming the 20th Anniversary RB26 Tuning World. All we saw were some of the nicest modified GT-Rs that we’ve ever seen

Continue to 2010 Tokyo Auto Salon - Part 2 >>>