Pre-production Honda CR-Z MUGEN RR Sport Hybrid Concept

Mugen, a manufacturer of high performance custom Honda vehicles, have announced a concept based on the Honda CR-Z sport hybrid.

They have taken the CR-Z MUGEN RR Concept, first announced in the UK last July, and modified the form, materials and specs with a view to mass production.

"This car is based on that orange Honda CR-Z MUGEN RR Concept. Our aim was to get more powerful performance, so we've used a special-purpose ECU and suspension, and added a supercharger. We developed this car to compete on the Tsukuba Circuit."

"The engine itself delivers 179 ps. On the Tsukuba Circuit, we've recorded a time of 1:08.6, which is 5.6 seconds faster than normal. So I think you can see, from that alone, how well this car performs."

The aero parts utilize dry carbon and have been optimized through wind tunnel tests, minimizing weight as well as enhancing aerodynamics.

"The CR-Z has a clean, smart design in its normal version. So we've combined that design with the sharper feeling of a concept car. The body color is a special one called Spring Green Opal, and we've also made the meters green. The full bucket seats are also made of lightweight carbon material with green stitching. So another feature of this car is overall color coordination."

"As this is a pre-production model, it's entirely a concept car, so we don't plan to sell it with these specs. But we used to sell a car called the Honda Civic MUGEN RR, so our goal is to also offer the CR-Z as a complete car. We'd like you to think of this model as a step along the way."