Saturday, November 29, 2014

A moment of silence, please: Japan’s maddest sports car bows out with barmy Evangelion Edition

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Tissues at the ready, dear readers: the Mitsuoka Orochihasn’t long for this world. One of Japan’s weirdest offerings – and in a world of Daihatsu Copensand Autozam AZ-1s that really is a statement with clout – bows out once 11 of these predictably whacky Evangelion Editions have been sold.

It marks the end of Orochi production with an eye-searing paint job,
apparently inspired by the ‘Neon Genesis Evangelion’ anime series.

Other
than that it’s business as usual (well, as ‘usual’ as a car that looks
like a melted hedge trimmer can possibly be), with a mid-mounted
3.3-litre Toyota V6 sending 230bhp to the rear wheels via a five-speed
automatic gearbox. It will be priced around £90,000.

If you’re unsure whether the Orochi’s impending exit from this mortal coil is a bad thing, let us fill you in.

Its
name originates from the name of an eight-headed, eight-tailed dragon
from Japanese legend. Fittingly, that’s the only thing that would garner
more second glances sidling down a busy Tokyo street.

On that
note, Mitsuokaitself describes the Orochi as “the car to ride to gather
attention from everyone”. It also declares it a ‘fashion supercar’,
whatever definition those two words actually take when shoehorned
together.

Its advertising for the car is unwaveringly superb. The
Orochi is summed up as “brilliance and luridness in front of your eyes”.
Anything with that as its tagline ought to be bought immediately
without question.

If you’re inspired to do just that, then we have
one final nugget of craziness to share with you: forget the local
Mitsuoka dealer, the Orochi Evangelion Edition can only be bought at
7-Eleven shops. Yes, the 7-Eleven shops where you’d normally purchase
milk or chewing gum.

We’re going for a sit down.


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