Mugen Lays Its Hands on Honda's New Fit

As we told you a couple of weeks ago, the next generation Honda Fit

Mugen's Honda Fit brings street style to the little Fit. (Photo: Mugen)

(Jazz in Japan) was recently introduced and should arrive in North America next year. The current Fit has been embraced as a small yet spacious economy car plus a customizable platform for those of us who don't like our cars stock. Mugen hoped to kick start thoughts of customizing the upcoming platform by introducing two additional models of the just released car mere days after its debut. Thanks to a close proximity to Honda's RandD facility in Japan, Mugen was able to get the jump on the multitude of tuners looking to produce parts for Honda's products. The difference being that Mugen doesn't see itself as a mere tuner, but rather as a design and manufacturing house in the same way that Carroll Shelby or Steve Saleen aren't Ford tuners.

New gauge pods help the driver know what's going on under the hood. (Photo: Mugen)

Mugen was founded in the early 1970s by Hirotoshi Honda, son of founder Soichiro Honda, but despite the very close relationship Mugen has enjoyed with the Japanese automaker over the years, it has never been owned by Honda. Actually Mugen is no longer the official name of the company, as it was taken over by M-Tec in 2004. M-Tec now runs Mugen to further distance itself from Honda. Over the years, Mugen has also been responsible for most Honda related racing efforts, from the Japan Grand Touring Championship to Formula 1. They were also the first to transplant Honda's 200 bhp K20A DOHC four-cylinder from the RSX and Civic Si into the current Fit, so the release of this new model should come as no surprise.

Like most Japanese performance packages, two versions are available, hot and hotter. Of the two, the RS Aero package is the hotter one.

Most of the Mugen kit is comprised of styling and aero upgrades. There's no engine swap here... (Photo: Mugen)

It's much more aggressive, including a complete front fascia with integrated grille and HID headlamps, side skirts, rear fascia, rear spoiler and dual exhaust tips that are neatly integrated into the rear fascia. The LG Aero kit also consists of front and rear fascias, side skirts, a spoiler and chrome exhaust tips, all of which are much less aggressive that the RS package. Like all Mugen products, the Aero pieces are functional and wind tunnel tested.

Unlike the Mugen Civic Si, the Mugen Honda Fit is currently slated for Japanese consumption only. Contact King Motorsports (www.kingmotorsports.com), Mugen's official North American distributor that will most likely carry the parts over here if you want to build your own. In addition to the Aero kits, Mugen will offer other parts for the Fit/Jazz just as they do for most other Japanese Honda cars, such as suspension components, larger alloy wheels, an intake upgrade, a sport exhaust system, alloy pedals, a short shifter kit, and even brake pads. As good as all these parts are (and they will be good), it's still up to you to perform the K20A swap or pay someone else to do it.

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