Japan's VIP styling trend is said to be the next big thing in U.S. tuning, so we thought we'd take a look at the high-class VIP luxury cars of the 2007 Tokyo Auto Salon. To be honest though, it's really hard to create an article based solely around these VIP rides as there's not a whole lot to talk about. The formula is simple: take one Japanese-made luxury sedan, make sure the car is white or black, put a tasteful aero kit on it, slap on some large rims and call it a day. Most VIP rides don't boast any wild tuning tricks or crazy stereos... As much as we love the VIP style, we can honestly say that if you've seen one VIP ride, you've seen them all.
So in addition to featuring the VIP rides of the Tokyo Auto Salon, we'll also look at some of the high-end European rides of the show. Why? Because we need the variety. Now let's get on with the article.
On the VIP front, Lexus' new LS sedan looks like it is the ride of choice for Japan's top VIP tuners. This white sedan from AR Admiration was one of our favorites.
Nissan Presidents are gangster - literally. We don't know of one President sedan that
isn't owned by some yakuza or chipira-type person. As such, we were too afraid to ask about the owner of this Sessions-tuned G50 Nissan President Concept.
Aero kit manufacturer DAMD had a few "conversion" kits on display. In addition to the Subaru Legacy/wanna-be Audi you see here, DAMD also had a Skyline (G35) with an Aston Martin-inspired front clip.
Forget KenStyle and Junction Produce; Fabulous had the best booth of the show. In addition to some insane luxury vans (which we'll show tomorrow), Fabulous had this insane VIP-styled Ferrari F430. This car is outfitted with about 2,511,390 JPY (approx. $20,648 USD) in dress-up/suspension items - and that's not counting the cost for the Fabulous-built muffler or wheels. According to Fabulous, this luxury-tuned Ferrari is able to lap Fuji Speedway in 1 minute 54 seconds and Twin Ring Motegi in 2 minutes 8 seconds.
If speed isn't your thing, Fabulous can hook you up with some Swarovski crystal-made badges for just 31,500 JPY (approx. $258 USD) a pop.
Does this photo really need a caption? Didn't think so.
Wild trunk-mounted speaker enclosures have long been the specialty of American car builders like West Coast Customs. While we're sure that American kids think it's tight to have an automated shoe rack in the back of a Hyundai, no one can match the artistry and innovation of Japanese audio/visual companies. Most Japanese audio/visual companies are focusing their attention on vans and style wagons (which we'll see tomorrow), but a few fabricators are still showing traditional "boots" some love. Check out the "traditional" Japanese-theme in the back of this 3-series. This set-up is both wild yet tasteful at the same time; we like.
Here's a detail shot of the same trunk.
Carbon fiber specialist Varis had some
very nice M3s on the TAS show floor. Though you can't tell due to the paint, the hoods, air splitters, rear decks, etc. of these cars were made from the high-tech woven stuff. We got a close look at these CF pieces, and we were impressed with the level of workmanship shown in each piece. Of course, such impressive workmanship doesn't come cheap. The carbon parts alone on this E36 probably cost as much as the car itself... Oh yeah, Varis had a full line-up of CF parts for the E30 M3, but there was no E30 M3 to be found on the show floor. Boo!
That does it for today. Tomorrow we get to indulge ourselves by showing you the VIP/Style Wagons of the Tokyo Auto Salon. These wagons take VIP customization to a whole new level. In the meantime, check out our Image page for more pictures of the VIP sedans and Euro rides of the 2007 Tokyo Auto Salon.
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