Here’s What Japan’s Youngest Car Tuners Want The Future To Look Like

NATS is the Nihon Automobile College (they still use their former name’s acronym, Nihon Automobile Technical School) and they are THE coolest school in Japan. Ever since its first appearance at the Tokyo Auto Salon back in 1997 (the school itself was created in 1989), NATS has gratified us with the wildest builds and this year is no exception.

[Ed note: Flavian Vidal is one of our oldest pals and one of the big reasons a lot of people on the car web understand some of the inner workings of the car import market. He also helped demystify Kei Cars for Americans. Tokyo’s big aftermarket/tuner show, the Tokyo Auto Salon, was on this week and Flavian will be bringing us photos and updates.We’re grateful to have Flavian’s contributions and look forward to sharing more from the show this weekend and into the week. Enjoy – MH]

I’ve seen NATS at the Tokyo Auto Salon for many years now. Every time I go, it’s always one of the first booths I visit… At first, I often made fun of the paper-mache bodykits and really strange cars they’d bring, but it was because I didn’t think about who was creating those cars. These are 16-18-year-old kids who manage to make a reality of all the things that go through their brain, this untouched vision of what automobiles can be that older more experienced adults just can’t come up with anymore, thanks to years of looking and being influenced by the automotive industry concepts and dogmas as a whole.

NATS allows its students to create and invent, without the hope of creating a trend, killing risk-taking and innovation.

Let’s start with the “NATS Samurai,” a lowrider ’70s Suzuki LJ20 Jimny with its 360cc 2-stroke engine coupled with a complete air suspension system in a beautiful pinstriped candy gold color! And, of course, it trailers a Honda Cub because why not…

The “NATS Mini Ranger” takes two of the most popular vehicles in Japan (the Suzuki Carry, a 660cc Kei Truck and a Suzuki Jimny) and makes a small version of the Hino Ranger truck that has been competing on the Dakar Rally for many years now.

It uses a Suzuki Jimny base, chassis (extended by a few inches), and a 4wd system, with a lifted cabin and custom-made truck bed. Not only does the little truck look awesome, but it actually could offroad quite well, up until it tips over to its side of course, a very common trait with lifted Jimnys.

NATS isn’t just about car tuning and modifications, they also focus on racing, building from scratch race cars like the NATS-13, a tiny and extremely fast kart that competed in the Students Formula Japan Championship last year (it got 4th place overall, among close to 100 different teams) which they can try and tune all year long on their own private 1.5km racetrack located within the campus of the school.

They have been participating in this Formula SAE event since 2010, getting better and better results every year.

Another one of their curriculum showcased at the Auto Salon this year was focused on car restoration through the cutest Kei Car of them all, one that the US often forgets it got, sold at Subaru dealers nationwide: the Subaru 360.

I have had the chance to test a few of them over the years (even writing an article on one through the old defunct Oppo) and they have always held a special place in my heart. Seeing a restored one, by young students, all that in a country that tends to dismiss everything as “old” a little too quickly felt heart-warming.

Not only do they restore cars, but they also recycle old projects showcased at previous Auto Salon. This GT86 was transformed into what they imagined the Toyota LFA2 to be in its racecar version. The wheelbase was extended (crazy work!) and it got converted into a caged single-seater GT car.

Bravo NATS! I’ll see you again next year at the Tokyo Auto Salon!

Photos: Flavian Vidal for The Autopian