The Tommykaira ZZ is a

mid-engined In automotive engineering, a mid-engine layout describes the placement of an automobile engine in front of the rear-wheel axles, but behind the front axle. History The mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive format can be considered the original layout of ...

sports car A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...

manufactured by tuning company

Tommykaira , originally founded as , is a Japanese car tuning and manufacturing company founded in 1986 and headquartered in Minami-ku, Kyoto, Japan. The company was named after its two founders, Yoshikazu Tomita and Kikuo Kaira. Its parent company was foun ...

(トミーカイラ) in Japan. The car was conceived in late 1991, developed from 1992, unveiled in 1995 and manufactured from 1996 to 2000 in its first generation, and from 2014 to 2021 in its second.

First Generation (1996-2000)

The first generation ZZ was all styled by Tommykaira and Mooncraft's Takuya Yura, and did not borrow any designs from other cars. The roof of the car was detachable, with four bolts holding it either on the bonnet or on the roll hoop and windscreen frame. The ZZ sold a total of almost 220 units in its years of production. After Tomita Auto UK was dissolved, the designs were sold at auction to Breckland Technology Ltd, who created the Leading Edge Sportscar Company to market a slightly revised ZZ from 2002 onwards in two models, the 190RT and 240RT. In 2005 the scarce success brought to the discontinuation of Leading Edge, and to the production of the car born as the ZZ. The assets were bought at an auction by a car collector from Pakistan, who owns the 240RT too. The ZZ was powered by a 2.0-liter

SR20DE The SR engine is a series of , or straight-four, four-stroke gasoline engines manufactured by Nissan. It has an aluminum head and cast-iron block with steel sleeves and has a DOHC 4-valve design, with variable valve timing on select models. T ...

naturally-aspirated

inline-four A straight-four engine (also called an inline-four) is a four-cylinder piston engine where cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft. The vast majority of automotive four-cylinder engines use a straight-four layout (with the ...

sourced from

Nissan , trade name, trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells ...

, fed by 45mm Keihin carburetors (Mikuni on the 190RT), and put out in the standard trim, or 195 PS in the ZZ-S. With the 2000 update, it gained 5 PS and 5 Nm. Torque output is 195 Nm. The performance figures of the car are in about 4.0 seconds and a top speed of . The front and rear brake discs are both vented. Tires were 205 mm front and rear, but for the late model 195mm front were adopted to reduce lift off oversteer. The power is sent to the rear wheels by a 5-speed

manual transmission A manual transmission (MT), also known as manual gearbox, standard transmission (in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States), or stick shift (in the United States), is a multi-speed motor vehicle transmission (mechanics), transmission ...

ZZ-S (1995-2000)

The ZZ-S was intended to be a sportier version of the ZZ. Its power output slightly increased for a total of . No other changes were made.

Second Generation (2014-2021)

Tommykaira returned with another variation of the ZZ, this time with the help of a company that originated from

Kyoto University , mottoeng = Freedom of academic culture , established = , type = National university, Public (National) , endowment = ¥ 316 billion (2.4 1000000000 (number), billion USD) , faculty = 3,480 (Teaching Staff) , administrative_staff ...

called Green Lord Motors. A few companies also gave funding for the second generation ZZ, some of these being

Mitsubishi UFJ Capital is a Japanese bank holding and financial services company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. MUFG holds assets of around US$3.1 trillion as of 2016 and is one of the "Three Great Houses" of the Mitsubishi Group alongside Mitsubishi Corp ...

and Globis Capital. The total for funding was $14 million. Funding started in 2010, with a total of $6.6 million at the end of 2012, and earned another $6 million for 2013–2015. The ZZ became electric for the second generation. Because of this change, many critics started calling it the ZZ-EV. The design has received major changes as well, with a more aggressive look. The car now stays as a roadster for this generation. The price of the vehicle is at $80,000. Green Lord Motors says the car's chassis is "adaptable", which means modifications can go over beyond limits of the car. The power coming from the electric motor is , and has an electric range of . The ZZ runs in less than 4.0 seconds, faster than last generation. At GLM's website It was announced that the TommyKaira ZZ ended production at the end of June 2021.

References

Cars of Japan Roadsters Cars introduced in 1990 {{Automobile-stub Rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive vehicles