The NSX Restomod Is Ready For Production. And It Looks Great

JAS Motorsport has finished its restomod take on the Honda NSX, and it is called the Tensei. The name means "rebirth" in Japanese, and the car backs that up with a 420-horsepower naturally aspirated V6 and a six-speed manual gearbox.

Every one of the planned 35 cars starts life as a donor NSX before JAS strips it down and rebuilds it with Pininfarina-designed carbon-fiber bodywork. Honda never touches the project directly, this is an independent shop's reinterpretation of an icon.

JASTensei 2026 - The design

Photo by: Italdesign

JAS kept the NSX's original Honda C30A block but handed the internals to Judd Power, the British engine builder better known for motorsport work. Judd redesigned the crankshaft, fitted light-alloy cylinder heads and titanium valves, and ditched Honda's VTEC variable valve timing for fixed timing instead.

The 3.5-liter engine makes 414 horsepower at 8,300 rpm and 305 pound-feet of torque at 5,500 rpm, revving to an 8,500-rpm redline. Power runs through a six-speed manual with a carbon twin-disc clutch and a Torsen limited-slip differential, sending drive to the rear wheels alone.

That setup echoes JAS's earlier NSX work years before Tensei reached this finished form.

JAS Tensei 2026 Interior

Photos by: Italdesign

JAS Tensei 2026 Interior

Photos by: Italdesign

Pininfarina replaces the NSX's original aluminum panels with high-modulus carbon fiber across the entire body, a swap that also brings a flat underfloor and an active rear diffuser the first-generation car never had. JAS lists the dry weight at 2,756 pounds.

Brakes come from Brembo, with six-piston calipers up front and four-piston units at the rear, clamping down on a chassis tuned with KW dampers running Dynamic Damping Control. The electronically adjustable suspension lets owners dial in ride behavior beyond what the stock NSX offered.

JAS describes the Tensei's mission in blunt terms: it is built to survive in a modern supercar market without giving up the traits that made the original NSX an icon in the first place. That pitch sits behind every panel and every recalibrated engine component.

Pricing starts at 880,000 euros (about $959,000), excluding the donor car, taxes, and any customization the buyer wants. That figure puts the Tensei firmly in exotic territory, closer to a bespoke coachbuilt project than a tuned production car.

JAS Motorsport and Pininfarina will show the finished Tensei publicly for the first time at the 2026 Paris Motor Show, giving European buyers their first in-person look at the carbon-bodied restomod. No wider rollout or dealer network has been announced alongside it.

What do you think?

With only 35 units planned and each one built from a customer-supplied donor car, the build timeline depends on how quickly JAS can source NSX donors and complete each Judd-engineered drivetrain.

The Tensei joins a small but growing field of manual-gearbox restomods built around beloved Japanese and British sports cars, a lane that also includes projects like the reborn Jensen that debuted with a vastly different power figure but a similar restoration philosophy.