We just told you about Nissan's next-gen Patrol SUV and the fact that it might be coming to North America. While rumors have the engine options including a first-ever V8 for the model, the big news is the diesel engine co-developed with Renault that's slated to put out 405 ft-lbs. of torque. While that sounds enticing, apparently that won't be good enough for a certain impatient Dubai businessman. He went to tuner HKS and had them turn up the wick a bit on a current-generation Patrol while he's waiting for the new one.
more ...
Serious Nissan GT-R tuners aren't coming out of the woodwork – yet – but one of Japan's largest aftermarket firms has thrown its hat into the ring, and to good effect. HKS will begin offering its GT570 kit to consumers in Japan later this year (no word on U.S. distribution) and as it's name implies, output is getting close to the 600 hp mark. The package includes new wastegate actuators for the stock turbos and an electronic boost controller, along with aluminum intercooler piping, silicon hose couplers and straight pipes that replace the stock catalytic converters, reducing back pressure, but negating the GT-R's road-legal status. All of those tweaks add up to a total of – you guessed it – 570 PS, or 562 hp and 540 lb.-ft. of torque at the wheels.
Hyundai made a huge splash at the New York Auto Show this year with its Genesis Coupe, and it's looking for a repeat performance next month at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas. The Koreans are working with several aftermarket tuners to create special coupes for the tuner show and they just passed along a photo of one of them. This example was created by HKS USA and includes the usual array of body work mods along with plenty of mechanical upgrades. Hyundai hasn't provided details on the engine re-work yet other than noting it's got an HKS GT Turbo package, so presumably this car will use the 2.0L turbo four-cylinder as its starting point. Since the guts of the engine are being beefed up, we can safely assume this thing will be running considerably higher boost than a stock Genesis. Hopefully the HKS Hipermax III fully-adjustable suspension will help make all this power usable on the street as well as the track. The Genesis Coupe may just yet prove to be a very formidable competitor to all those new Mustangs, Camaros and Challengers appearing over the next few months, and we can't wait for our chance to drive one.
Despite a slightly rocky start, the aftermarket in Japan has fully embraced the R35 Nissan GT-R. We've already reported on the trials and tribulations owners have faced when trying to throw on some new hoops or attempting to get past the Nissan-imposed 111-mph speed limiter, but as we suspected, both issues have been resolved post haste by the auto-obsessives across the Pacific.
HKS has begun selling a standalone speed-limiter defeat that plugs into the ECU harness and removes the 180 km/h governor, and, unlike other solutions from MINE'S and Amuse, it doesn't involve reflashing the ECU. However, the VAC unit isn't cheap at 120,000 yen (around $1,200 US).
Follow the jump for more of the latest aftermarket toys available for your Nissan GT-R.
There were three main show pieces gracing the halls of the Makuhari Messe over the last few days: the GT-R, the new Subaru Impreza STI and Mitsubishi's Evolution X. Autoblog Chinese snapped off a random assortment of pictures showing several different interpretations of the Evo X from a variety of tuners.
more ...
The Tokyo Auto Salon opened up last week and our comprehensive coverage has been slightly delayed due to the madness known as Detroit. We've partnered up with our friends from Autoblog Chinese to bring you as many live shots of the show as we can procure.
more ...
