This is what we should be doing but can't.
Thirty-five years after Honda redefined what a supercar could be, a Milan racing team called JAS Motorsport is offering 35 collectors the chance to give their original NSX a second life — reimagined by Pininfarina, powered by a 420-horsepower Judd V6, and priced at €880,000 each. The project, called the Tensei — Japanese for reincarnation — exists in a regulatory space that even Honda itself cannot occupy today, a loophole where the spirit of the original can be honored without the constraints of modern emissions law. It is, in a quiet way, a love letter written by the industry to one of its own most civilized masterpieces.
- Modern safety and emissions regulations have made it legally impossible for any major automaker to build a car with the original NSX's analog purity — so JAS Motorsport is doing it instead, through a restomod classification that only needs to meet 1990s Euro 1 standards.
- At €880,000 per unit, the Tensei is not a nostalgia project for the faint of heart — buyers must supply their own NSX shell, then trust JAS to transform it with carbon-fiber panels, a rebuilt 3.5L V6, and Pininfarina bodywork.
- Honda, which could have blocked the entire endeavor, instead gave its blessing — with one executive reportedly telling JAS boss Mads Fischer, 'This is what we should be doing but can't,' signaling quiet institutional grief over what regulation has taken from the craft.
- Engineering the Tensei required rebuilding nearly everything beneath the skin: reinforced aluminum structure, all-new suspension geometry, Brembo brakes, KW adaptive dampers borrowed from a Porsche 911 GT3 RS, and a bespoke six-speed gearbox.
- The interior walks a careful line — original switch pods and air vents remain, but a switchable digital display lets drivers toggle between modern menus and a faithful rendering of the NSX's iconic six-dial yellow-needle cluster.
- With only 35 units planned and the restomod market accelerating globally, the Tensei lands as both a business strategy for JAS and a cultural statement: some cars are too important to simply let age.
In the early 1990s, Honda built a supercar so well-balanced and accessible that it made Ferrari engineers uneasy. The original NSX had a light clutch, a usable trunk, and the kind of composure that critics sometimes mistook for timidity. Thirty-five years later, Milan-based JAS Motorsport — a three-decade Honda partner that once ran the works Civic in WTCC — has decided to resurrect that vision under the name Tensei, Japanese for reincarnation.
Limited to exactly 35 units, each Tensei begins as an original NSX shell that a customer delivers to JAS. From there, Pininfarina reshapes the body with carbon-fiber panels, wider haunches, a shallower rear glass angle, and a more muscular stance — while preserving the pop-up headlights, rear wing, and side intakes that make an NSX unmistakable. The engine, rebuilt almost entirely by Judd from Honda's original block, grows from 3.0 to 3.5 liters and produces 420 horsepower at 8,500 rpm. A new six-speed manual gearbox replaces the original five-speed. KW adaptive dampers, Brembo brakes, and reinforced suspension geometry handle the roughly doubled mechanical loads.
The project exists in a regulatory loophole: as a modified car, the Tensei only needs to meet Euro 1 emissions standards — the rules of the 1990s — freeing it from the driver-assistance mandates and emissions limits that prevent any manufacturer from building something like this new. Honda understood this immediately. When JAS approached the company, one executive told founder Mads Fischer: 'This is what we should be doing but can't.' That quiet endorsement cleared the way.
Inside, the original dashboard architecture is preserved and reupholstered, with column-mounted switch pods and integrated door vents left intact. A Pininfarina-designed display handles modern functions like damper adjustment, but at customer request it can switch to a near-replica of the original six-dial yellow-needle cluster — modernity wearing the face of memory.
The Tensei emerged partly from business logic: JAS needed a road car to stabilize revenue between racing contracts, and the restomod market was growing. But the number 35 took on unexpected meaning when someone noted it matched the anniversary of the NSX's original launch. At €880,000 per car, each unit is less a product than a second life — for a machine that already changed the world once.
In the early 1990s, Honda built a car that changed what a supercar could be. The original NSX arrived with a 3.0-liter V6, aluminum monocoque chassis, and the kind of accessibility that made Ferrari engineers nervous. It had power seats and climate control. It had a light clutch and a useful trunk. It was, in many ways, too civilized for its own good—a car so well-balanced that critics found it oddly reserved. Thirty-five years later, a Milan-based racing team called JAS Motorsport has decided to resurrect that vision, but with the tools and ambitions of the present.
The car is called the Tensei, a Japanese word meaning reincarnation. It's a restomod—a restoration-modification hybrid—limited to exactly 35 units, each one built from an original NSX shell that a customer brings to JAS. The design comes from Pininfarina, the legendary Italian house that has shaped some of the world's most beautiful cars. The engine is a 3.5-liter V6 developed by Judd, now producing 420 horsepower at 8,500 rpm, a gain of roughly 140 horses over the original. The price is €880,000, or about 63 million Philippine pesos, plus tax. Buyers will get pop-up headlights, a six-speed manual gearbox, carbon-fiber body panels, adaptive dampers, and a modern infotainment system that can switch between a contemporary digital display and a near-exact replica of the original six-dial yellow-needle gauge cluster.
JAS Motorsport is not a small operation. For five seasons starting in 2012, the company developed and ran Honda's works Civic for the Castrol WTCC racing team. It has been an official Honda partner for three decades. This pedigree matters because Honda could have said no. The company could have protected its legacy by forbidding any third party from touching the NSX. Instead, according to JAS boss Mads Fischer, Honda's response was surprisingly permissive. One Honda executive told Fischer: "This is what we should be doing but can't." Modern emissions regulations and mandatory driver-assistance systems prevent manufacturers from building a car like the original NSX today. A restomod, however, needs to meet only Euro 1 standards—the emissions rules from the 1990s. It exists in a regulatory loophole that allows for something a major automaker cannot legally produce.
The design process was meticulous. JAS scanned an original NSX body to create a full digital 3D model, then worked with Pininfarina through multiple iterations to find the right balance between aggression and elegance, between modernity and respect for the original. Certain elements were nonnegotiable: the pop-up headlights, the rear wing, the side air intakes. But everything is more effective now. The sides are shearer and more muscular than the original. The wings drape over wider tires. The rear glass angle is shallower, correcting what Fischer saw as an imbalance in the original's proportions. The upper body remains largely unchanged, a decision that keeps the car recognizable as an NSX while allowing Pininfarina's hand to show in the details.
Under the skin, the engineering is comprehensive. The original aluminum structure is reinforced with carbon-fiber sheets bonded strategically throughout. New suspension arms, uprights, and multilink geometry replace the originals, which were only just adequate for the original power output. The new suspension must handle roughly double the loads. KW supplies electrically adjustable dampers—the same units found under a Porsche 911 GT3 RS, though in the Tensei they arrive menu-adjustable in stages, with a promise of full adaptive capability after further development. Brembo provides brakes in steel or carbon fiber. Wheels come in two styles: a bespoke forged OZ design or a radial-spoke pattern reminiscent of the NSX Type R, chosen because Fischer believes a restomod builder must listen to customers, not follow personal opinion.
The engine work is extensive. Judd took Honda's original block and rebuilt it almost entirely. The displacement grew from 3.0 liters to 3.5 liters. New crank, rods, and pistons. New intake plenum and six throttle bodies. The signature VTEC variable valve timing system is gone—it would not have been reliable at the higher rpm ceiling. The manual gearbox is all-new, a six-speed unit with a JAS casing and proprietary internals, replacing the original five-speed. When asked about weight, Fischer laughed. The original NSX engineers obsessed over every gram. The Tensei adds bigger tires, brakes, and wheels, offset by the carbon-fiber skin. Fischer suspects the final weight will land just under 1,400 kilograms, only slightly heavier than the original 1,370.
The interior preserves the original's revolutionary design philosophy. The dashboard, binnacle, and console surfaces remain largely intact, reupholstered and accented with aluminum collars. The column-mounted switch pods for lights and wipers stay. The integrated air vents in the door cards stay. Pininfarina designed a semi-digital display to handle modern menus for damping adjustment, but customers requested something more old-school, so the system can switch to a rendering of the original six-dial layout with menus that appear only when needed. It is a car that respects its own history while refusing to be imprisoned by it.
The Tensei emerged from practical necessity. JAS's racing business has peaks and troughs. Three years ago, the company considered building a road car to smooth out those cycles. Starting from scratch would have been slow and prohibitively expensive. But the restomod market was growing. Porsche had shown the way. So JAS looked at which car to reimagine, and the answer was obvious: the NSX, which had never been done. The relationship with Honda was delicate—thirty years of partnership could have been damaged by a misstep. But Honda's openness suggested the company saw something valuable in the idea. JAS surveyed collectors and opinion leaders around the world. The response was positive. The company settled on 35 units—a number that gained symbolic weight when someone noted it was the 35th anniversary of the original NSX's launch. Each car will be a transformation of an existing shell, a second life for a machine that already changed the world once.
Citas Notables
This is what we should be doing but can't.— Honda executive, to JAS Motorsport
We didn't want a Fast and Furious car, didn't want to destroy the heritage.— Mads Fischer, JAS Motorsport boss
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does Honda allow this? They could have shut it down.
Because JAS has been their racing partner for thirty years. But also because Honda sees something they can't do themselves anymore. Modern regulations won't let them build a car like the original NSX today. A restomod exists in a legal space where a manufacturer cannot.
So this is what Honda wishes it could make.
Exactly. One of their executives told JAS: "This is what we should be doing but can't." That's not permission born from indifference. That's permission born from recognition.
Why Pininfarina? Why not just bolt on some carbon fiber and call it done?
Because JAS understood that if you're going to touch something sacred, you need to do it with reverence and skill. Pininfarina has shaped some of the world's most beautiful cars. The design had to honor the original while making it unmistakably contemporary. That took multiple rounds of iteration.
The pop-up headlights seem like a strange choice in 2026. Why keep them?
Because they're nonnegotiable to the car's identity. They're brighter now, more functional, but they're still there. It's a signal: this is an NSX, not something else wearing an NSX skin.
What's the real innovation here—the engineering or the philosophy?
The philosophy. Any talented engineer can add horsepower and carbon fiber. What's harder is restraint. Knowing what to change and what to leave alone. The original NSX interior was revolutionary. So they kept it. The original proportions were mostly right. So they kept them. That's the harder choice.
At nearly a million euros, who buys this?
Collectors who already own an NSX. You bring your car to JAS, and they transform it. It's not a new car; it's a second life for a machine that already meant something to you. That's a different kind of customer than someone buying off the shelf.