#jdm

Start a conversation about JDM culture and you’ll invariably end up with equal parts cheers and jeers from petrolheads with an opinion on the matter.

Nissan’s segment-leading Versa sub-compact will be getting some much-needed styling updates courtesy of the Japan- and Europe-marketed Note.

Starting in May 2013, The Toyota  Yaris will be imported to North American markets from a factory in France.

Picture a classic car in your head: likely it’s an American icon like a late ‘60s Mustang or even earlier like a ‘50s Fairlane. Maybe your taste is a bit more exotic and you’re imagining a classic Ferrari or even a British sports car like an MG or Triumph.

Ford is looking to increase its popularity in the Japanese market with a special edition Mustang V6 Sport Appearance. Production for this special edition Japanese Mustang will be limited to 50 units total, 25 going to the coupe and 25 for the convertible. The Sport Appearance Mustang mainly consists of accessories, leaving the 3.7L V6 power plant untouched at 309-hp and 279 ft-lbs of torque.

In a very surprising and unfortunate move, HKS USA sent out an email to several of their dedicated distributors stating that HKS USA will cease to exist by the end of August, 2011. Opened since 1982, HKS USA was one of the pioneers in America in distributing high quality, Japanese-made parts to our market. In addition, we were always blessed by seeing some of the most ultimate car builds from Japan over in America thanks to HKS USA’s operation.

A lot of Japanese tuning fads have become popular in North American, but here’s an interesting trend that we find a hard time believing it will catch on here.

NISMO’s VK45DE powerplant, which has had huge success in the SuperGT series powering the Nissan GT-R to a championship in 2008, will be installed in LMP2 class race cars from 2011 and on. NISMO has partnered up with Zytek Motorsport, a noted Formula 1 engine builder, with Zytek taking responsibility for servicing and maintaining all the engines.

“Zytek Motorsport is delighted to enter into this partnership with Nissan Motorsports International. We firmly believe that this collaboration between these two excellent brands is going to produce competitive and reliable products. It is an honour to work with a manufacturer of the standing and reputation of Nismo and we look forward to a long and successful partnership,” said John Manchester, Zytek Motorsport’s Operations Director.

Official press release available after the break.

Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but for Rays Engineering it’s a thorn in their side. Their most popular wheel, the TE37, is quite possibly the most copied wheel in the world. We have seen so many variants of the 6-spoke design, some virtually identical to the TE37 and some adding a little spice to the design but still sporting the same decals. We’ve always been very anti-imitation, so we figured we’d continue spreading the good news and help preserve the beauty of the TE37 wheel.

The Nissan Silvia S15 is probably second to the Skyline in vehicles we really want and will never get. The craze of outfitting S13s and S14s with the S15 front end has sort of subsided here, but there’s no mistaking how gorgeous the Silvia S15 is. Now it’s been a while since we spotted something that made us raise our eyebrows for the better. We like to give kudos to creativity and cleverness when deserved and this Nissan Silvia S15 is a prime example of just that.

Gosh, it’s hard to believe the Honda B-Series engine is still kicking strong after all these years. Sure, it’ll always be one of the most cost-effective engines out there for power to dollar output, but one would think by now the K-Series would be overwhelming the B-Series in popularity. But no way, Honda and Acura enthusiasts say. We love the B-Series, will stick by the B-Series and the K-Series can kiss our proven performance.

Things have gotten very interesting in Japan now that many tuners are expanding the term JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) to encompass European vehicles. Japanese tuner 3D Design specializes in tuning BMW s and has made quite the splash in its young American presence. The company is already quite popular with the newer model E90 and E92 crowd, many of whom probably grew up modifying Hondas and Acuras. Taking the simple JDM philosophy and applying it to German vehicles, 3D Design has manufactured lip add-ons that are appreciated for their simplicity and Japanese origin.

Subaru has just released details on its range-topping WRX STI Spec C model, offered exclusively for the Japanese market. With just a mild performance increase the focus of the Spec C model is on better power delivery, handling and reduced weight. The new model is intended to be a more race-ready platform.