Wednesday 14th October 2009

Oddball Supercar Set For Tokyo Debut

Lightweight Suzusho Supasse V looks like... lots of things

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One of the most intruiging things about the Tokyo Motor Show is the appearance of smaller-scale Japanese marques rarely seen elsewhere, and the strange kit they often bring along. This year's show should be no exception, and among the weird and wonderful creations set to appear next week is the oddly named Supasse V.

It's made by a small company called Suzusho from Nagoya, a major port town on Japan's Eastern Pacific Coast, who can normally be found creating featherweight 'Seven' style kit cars. But for Tokyo this year they appear to be upping their game.

Whilst the design appears to combine elements of the Ferrari Enzo and Pagani Zonda, both the shape and the packaging of this car make us think more of the Lotus Evora.

Like the Evora it is mid-engined, featuring a four cylinder, 2.3-litre Mazda engine taken from the Mazda3 MPS. The turbocharged engine is good for 272bhp, and the Supasse's miniscule 850kg weight makes for a power-to-weight ratio of 325 bhp per tonne, which compares favourably with the Evora's 'mere' 200.

There are no details on pricing or UK availability, and as no one outside of Suzusho has driven one, we wouldn't be cancelling any orders with Lotus. But they may just 'Supasse' our expectations yet... (Sorry!)

 

[wl606]

Very, very nice. Small and lightweight, the Colin Chapman ideology in contemporary Japanese form.

[angus54]

Lotus Elise meets Pagani Zonda meets Ferrari F50

Quite like it.

[smallgun]

Nice, how much?

[Mr Gearchange]

Nice - I like that a lot.

[Andeh]

Tommy Kaira was making stuff like that 10+ years ago.

[Lawrence5]

Andeh said:

Tommy Kaira was making stuff like that 10+ years ago.

Ding


Took him a while to get the hang of looks though

[nelly_h]

Profile remainds me of an RS200.

Looks great in principle, but I'm guessing I'll never see one, and if I do (being 6'4") I'd never fit in it

[RTH]

You could get in an Elise.

This new car looks a winner if the price is right.

[stephen300o]

Very nice, about time Lotus had some competition.

[Greg964]

I'm sure it goes well, but it looks awful. Far too fussy and confused.

[zakelwe]

Forgetting the love it or loathe it looks the grunty engine from the MPS3 in one of those? I doubt too many people will not be unhappy with the performance if they drove it.

Regards
Andy

[Marf]

Lawrence5 said:

The ZZII never made it into production though.

[Andeh]

Marf said:

Lawrence5 said:

The ZZII never made it into production though.

Nevertheless, you get the idea.

[anonymous-user]

very very cool. chapman would be proud.

elements of the styling im not convinced by but the more sub 1000kg cars out there to shame the mainstream into putting some effort in, the better.

Edited by fbrs on Wednesday 14th October 14:12

[bencollins]

Very nice.
And proper inboard suspension too, needed if it really is that light.
Still a ten year old could have drawn that in solidworks so as usual, production and crash issues must be resolved!

Edited by bencollins on Wednesday 14th October 14:25

[MrTappets]

Looks like it was designed, built and photographed about 15 years ago. Still, looks pretty good

[neema_T]

zakelwe said:

I doubt too many people will not be unhappy with the performance if they drove it.

Was that a triple negative? I can't figure out whether you mean thats good or bad!

Like the car though, it may be because it's been a few years since I've played GT4 but at first glance I thought of the ASL Garaiya:



but on second thoughts, it doesn't really look anything like this at all. Possibly similar in performance, though?

[pagani1]

Similar to Ferrari's Mille Chilli concept if the price is right and production goes ahead it will sell in japan and as RHD hopefullt here too-Best of Luck

[patmahe]

I really like that, if they sold the design to a mainstream manufacturer to build under licence, I'd say they'd have a hit on their hands. Depending on price of course

[SleeperCell]

The combined noughties supercar styling just in miniature concept reminds me a bit of the Autozam AZ-1 which was like a micro sized pastiche of all those 80s supercars.