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Asahi Shimbun
10-05-2025
- Automotive
- Asahi Shimbun
Man donates Honda NSX supercar for Mie police patrol use
SUZUKA, Mie Prefecture--Lawbreakers seeking to outrun the long arm of the law here should think twice before putting the pedal to the metal. A donor has gifted a speedy Honda NSX, a top-grade two-door sports car with an engine displacement of about 3,500cc, to be reborn as a speedy police patrol car. The NSX, donated to Mie prefectural police by a resident of Shiga Prefecture, has been repainted to meet the specifications of a patrol vehicle. Its license plate is 110, the dial number for police in Japan. The car was seen roaring at full speed to mark the special donation ceremony held at Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, Mie Prefecture, on April 21. The donor was Toshiya Kobayashi, a real estate agent who lives in Kusatsu, Shiga Prefecture. Kobayashi's hobby is motor racing. He said he has visited Suzuka Circuit many times to watch races there. Kobayashi, 43, has also competed in motor racing himself. Toyota Crowns account for the bulk of the Mie prefectural police's patrol car fleet. Suzuka, however, is the seat of a Honda Motor Co. factory. Kobayashi said he wanted to show his gratitude to Mie Prefecture, which he loves so much, to mark 10 years of his entrepreneurship. He bought the NSX secondhand and offered it to the Suzuka Police Station as a donation in June last year. 'An offender on the run could never get away from this car,' Kobayashi said. The donated NSX was manufactured in 2019. Officials of the prefectural police's accounting division said that NSXs of that model sell for around 25 million yen ($175,000) even in the used market. The Tochigi prefectural police department also keeps an NSX in its fleet, which, however, is an earlier model, the officials added. Incidentally, the police department of neighboring Aichi Prefecture, the seat of Toyota Motor Corp., utilizes a Toyota Crown Sport, with an engine displacement of about 2,500cc, which has been adapted into a patrol car. 'Ours is the only one NSX of the latest model that is kept by any police department in Japan,' said Yoji Tsurusawa, head of the Mie Prefectural Police Headquarters. 'We hope to make sure we will be saying proudly that we have this NSX in Mie Prefecture.' The Honda sports car will be used at awareness-raising events and on other occasions. It will also be used, among other things, in patrols and for traffic policing in different parts of the prefecture.
The Mainichi
22-04-2025
- Automotive
- The Mainichi
Luxury NSX patrol car donated to police in Japan's Mie Pref., roars around Suzuka track
SUZUKA, Mie -- A patrol car converted from Honda Motor Co.'s NSX luxury sports car was donated to Mie Prefectural Police by the president of a real estate company on April 21. The NSX police car, painted in black and white and bearing the emergency phone number "110" as its license plate, sped around the Suzuka Circuit where the donation ceremony took place. This is the second instance nationwide, following Tochigi Prefecture, where an NSX patrol car has been donated. The latest donor is Toshiya Kobayashi, 43, president of the real estate company Smart based in Kusatsu, Shiga Prefecture, who is an enthusiast of motorsports. He learned about patrol cars converted from sports cars and thought that many people would be delighted to see one at the Suzuka Circuit, where the Formula One Japanese Grand Prix is held. In June last year, during a visit to watch a race, Kobayashi directly proposed the idea to prefectural police officials engaged in public relations activities, leading to the donation. Kobayashi said, "It looks even cooler than I imagined, and gets me excited. I hope it will be used in enlightenment activities so that children will be attracted to the police." According to the prefectural police, the total cost, including purchase and modification, was about 25 million yen (roughly $177,000). The engine has a displacement of approximately 3,500 cc, and the vehicle measures 4.49 meters in length, 1.94 meters in width, and 1.215 meters in height. Yoji Tsurusawa, head of the prefectural police, expressed gratitude for the donation, saying, "We gratefully accepted the offer to use the vehicle for police activities. We will operate it effectively to ensure it is widely recognized by the citizens of the prefecture." (Japanese original by Nene Haseyama and Masaya Shibuya, Tsu Bureau)
