Pininfarina is usually associated with Fiats and Ferraris, but most recently has turned its attention to a Honda. We have the Italian design house to thank for this new reimagining of the iconic Honda NSX, known as the JAS Tensei. 

Pininfarina Worked with Italian racing team JAS Motorsport (an official partner of Honda since 1998) to create the JAS Tensei. It says the car is “inspired by the 1990-generation Honda NSX and reimagined through a contemporary vision of the grand touring concept”. 

The famous design firm also says the car is in-keeping with the NSX’s DNA of “high performance, perfectly balanced and safe, yet equally at home on the track”. The ‘Tensei’ name means “rebirth” or “reincarnation” in Japanese. 

JAS Motorsport has built and raced Hondas for decades, from Accords to Civics and even the last-generation NSX. However, powering the JAS Tensei is an engine from another partner, JUDD Power. Like the original NSX, the new car has a V6, but JUDD has taken the engine and increased the displacement from 3.0-litres to 3.5-litres. It remains naturally-aspirated but with a raised 8,500rpm rev-limit, power has been upped to 425bhp - over 150bhp more than the original Honda NSX.  

There are various modifications to the engine beyond simply making it larger. Oil starvation under hard cornering should be kept at bay thanks to a new dry-sump, the block also sits lower in the chassis for better weight distribution. There’s a new exhaust and individual throttle bodies to ensure it sounds the part. 

Although the original NSX was available with a manual or automatic gearbox, the JAS Tensei is strictly a six-speed manual with fancy twin-plate carbon clutch and a mechanical limited slip differential. 

With the extra power, braking has been upgraded as well. JAS Motorsport fitted carbon-ceramic discs all around with six-piston calipers up front and four-piston calipers to the rear. They sit behind 19-inch and 20-inch rims (staggered front and rear), with track-friendly Pirelli rubber. 

The Honda NSX made the likes of Ferrari and Porsche nervous with its excellent handling fine-tuned by the legendary Ayrton Senna, and JAS has done its own tweaks to the Tensei’s chassis. The NSX’s aluminium body underwent carbon-kevlar reinforcement to improve torsional rigidity, but the Tensei’s exterior body panels are entirely made up of carbon fibre to bring the weight down to 1,250kg - 120kg less than the original. 

The JAS Tensei is 55mm longer in its wheelbase and has up to 190mm wider track. The suspension is reworked too with new double-wishbone arms, a revised multi-link set up to the rear and adjustable coilovers from the suspension experts at KW. To help avoid scraping that expensive new body, there’s even a nose-lift system. 

As for the looks, the JAS Tensei follows a similar pattern we’ve seen on many other restomod recreations of iconic sports cars. The overall body is very similar to the old NSX, and while there are new LED lights up front, the characterful pop-up lights are also retained. Elements like the air ducts on the side have been remodelled to maximise cooling to the engine and the rear wing and diffuser are bespoke to the JAS Tensei as well.

“Together, we have developed a car that pays tribute to one of the most iconic sports cars in history, reinterpreting it through a contemporary vision that expresses passion, expertise and Italian craftsmanship at the highest level," said Paolo Dellacha, CEO of Pininfarina.

Despite the significant changes, the JAS Tensei is still a road car - though fairly critical information like pricing and availability hasn’t been announced. 

This isn’t the first time Pininfarina has been involved with the NSX. Honda may have designed the NSX in-house in the late eighties, but before that Pininfarina was tasked with creating a concept in 1984, called the HP-X. The HP-X was a mid-engined, rear-wheel-drive sports car that laid the foundations for the NSX.

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A keen petrol-head, Alastair Crooks has a degree in journalism and worked as a car salesman for a variety of manufacturers before joining Auto Express in Spring 2019 as a Content Editor. Now, as our senior news reporter, his daily duties involve tracking down the latest news and writing reviews.