Tokyo Auto Salon 2025: My 4 favorite cars of the show

Colin
By Colin Wood
Jan 13, 2025 | Hyundai, Nissan, Subaru, Toyota, subaru wrx, Tokyo Auto Salon, R32 GT-R, Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, Toyota GR Yaris

Photography Courtesy the Manufacturers

GR Yaris M Concept

A new mid-engine performance car from Toyota? Well, kind of.

Taking a page out of the Renault book, Toyota took a GR Yaris, yanked out the 3-cylinder engine from under the hood, and dropped a larger 4-cylinder engine in the middle of the car.

This mid-engine Yaris is set to compete in the Super Taikyu Series as a way to, as Toyota says, “further explore the potential of the GR Yaris.”

 

Hyundai Ioniq 5 N DK Edition

What do you get when you have one of the most legendary drivers come out of Japan and collaborate with a car company to make its already fast performance EV even more thrilling to drive? That’s right, the Ioniq 5 N “DK Edition.”

Named after the “Drift King” Keiichi Tsuchiya, the DK Edition gets wider 21-inch wheels, 6-piston brakes and lowering springs that play nice with the car’s electronically controlled suspension.

Aerodynamics gets an upgrade, too: A front splitter, rear spoiler, side skirts and rear diffuser are all constructed out of carbon fiber. (Hyundai brags that this aero package increases downforce by a total of 93 kilogram-force at 140 kilometers an hour–or approximately 912 Newtons at 87 mph.)

 

Subaru STI complete car S210 Prototype

The first S-Series car intended for the Japanese market is also the first S-Series car to feature the Subaru Performance Transmission–the car maker’s fancy name for the CVT it puts in the WRX.

Sure, a CVT wouldn’t have been my first choice, but I’ll give Subaru the benefit of the doubt.

The S210 features an FA24 engine that has been upgraded with a new air intake, exhaust, and specially tuned ECU that bumps output to a projected 300-ish horsepower.

Other notable upgrades? Subaru lists several, including specially tuned electronically controlled dampers and coil springs, Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires, a carbon fiber rear spoiler, power-adjustable Recaro seats, 6-piston brake calipers, and drilled brake rotors front and rear.

The good news is that 500 examples will actually be built. The bad news? Those 500 examples will only be sold in Japan.

 

R32 EV

Nissan describes its simply named R32 EV as a project assembled by “a small group of adventurous Nissan teammates in Japan,” in an attempt to explore “the potential of electrification to deliver a driving experience every bit as engaging and rewarding as the R32 GT-R's.”

In an effort to reproduce a similar output and driving experience of the factory R32 GT-R, the team fitted the project with two 160kW electric motors, each one good for some 250 lb.-ft. of torque, as well as a 62kWh unit from the Nismo version of the Leaf.

Acknowledging that the EV model weighs some 800 pounds more than the factory R32, the team tuned the output of the electric powertrain to match the original car’s torque-to-weight ratio.

The driving experience is further amplified by piping in a sound “inspired” by the RB26DETT into the cabin and programming the R32 EV’s shift logic to simulate the delay of shifting gears with a manual gearbox.

Sadly, Nissan confirms that there are no current plans to sell an electrified R32 or offer any sort of conversion kit.

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Comments
Duke
Duke MegaDork
1/13/25 5:02 p.m.

The R32 generated sound and transmission lag thing are stupid. You kids get off my lawn.

 

Coniglio Rampante
Coniglio Rampante GRM+ Memberand HalfDork
1/13/25 10:07 p.m.

It's 2025 and Subaru is bringing out ... yet another 300-ish horsepower motor.  They haven't moved the needle much over the decades in that respect.
 

 

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