JAS Tensei by Pininfarina Reveals Its Final Design and Driver-Focused Interior

The carbon-bodied reinterpretation of the first-generation Honda NSX shows its production-ready exterior and cockpit ahead of a public appearance at the 2026 Paris Motor Show.

JAS Motorsport has revealed the definitive design of the JAS Tensei, offering the clearest look yet at both the exterior and interior of its Pininfarina-designed reinterpretation of the first-generation Honda NSX.

Based on the 1990s Honda NSX, the Tensei is the first high-performance road car developed by JAS Motorsport, a company whose experience has largely been forged through more than three decades of competition. The project combines that motorsport background with a completely new carbon-fibre body and exterior and interior design by Pininfarina.

The latest images are particularly significant because they show the Tensei as it is intended to reach customers, rather than as an early design study.

A New Interior Without Forgetting the NSX

While the exterior had already established the direction of the project, the newly revealed cockpit provides another important piece of the Tensei story.

Pininfarina has deliberately avoided turning the cabin into the kind of screen-dominated environment found in many contemporary performance cars. Instead, the designers have worked around the basic philosophy of the original NSX: visibility, simplicity and a strong focus on the person behind the wheel.

The dashboard is low and relatively restrained, with clearly separated instruments and controls arranged around the driver. Taut surfaces and simple geometries give the interior a contemporary appearance without disguising its connection to a sports car conceived more than three decades ago.

Black surfaces dominate the cabin shown in the first official images, contrasted by red details across the seats, dashboard and controls. Sculpted metallic components and technical materials add a more modern character, while integrated sports seats reinforce the connection with JAS Motorsport’s competition background.

Rather than introducing technology simply for the sake of making the NSX appear newer, the approach is intended to preserve the clarity and functionality that characterised the original car.

Customers will nevertheless have considerable freedom to personalise their Tensei, with JAS promising hundreds of possible combinations of materials, colours and finishes.

Pininfarina Outside and In

The cabin follows the same philosophy already visible in the exterior.

The low nose, wraparound glasshouse and long rear section remain immediately recognisable, but the surfaces have been simplified and sharpened. Modern lighting elements and more pronounced aerodynamic detailing further separate the Tensei from the car on which it is based.

It is an interesting challenge for Pininfarina. The original NSX was not an Italian design, nor is the Tensei intended to transform it into one. The task has instead been to reinterpret an already highly distinctive Japanese sports car through Pininfarina’s contemporary design language without losing the qualities that made the original so successful.

The result sits somewhere between restoration, restomod and coachbuilt reinterpretation.

JAS Brings Its Motorsport Experience to the Road

Underneath the carbon-fibre body remains the foundation of a first-generation Honda NSX, but JAS intends the transformation to extend considerably further than its appearance.

The Milan-based company has confirmed that the Tensei will incorporate technical solutions derived from motorsport, drawing on JAS Motorsport’s extensive experience developing and racing Honda competition machinery.

That distinction is important. The Tensei is not simply an NSX wearing a new body designed by Pininfarina; it represents JAS Motorsport’s attempt to translate decades of racing experience into a highly exclusive road-going project.

Production will consequently be limited, with each example offering extensive possibilities for individual specification.

Tensei Heads to Paris

The next major appearance for the JAS Tensei designed by Pininfarina will take place at the Mondial de l’Auto in Paris, running from October 12 to 18, 2026 at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles.

Tensei chassis 001 will be displayed in the event’s Ultimate Supercar Garage, alongside the official Honda Prelude HRC Concept recently shown at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

It will provide the public with its first opportunity to see the finished interpretation up close.

More than three decades after the original NSX challenged established ideas about what an everyday supercar could be, the Tensei approaches the same car from a very different perspective. Rather than attempting to rewrite its history, JAS Motorsport and Pininfarina are using that history as the foundation for something new.