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NOV 16th 2022

James King

The 11 most beautiful Japanese cars of all time

Japan is not a country you necessarily associate with beautiful design. They’ve always landed on the side of functionality and let’s just say ‘outside of the box’ thinking. For example, when styling a tie, Italy would use the finest materials and keep it simple. Japan on the other hand is the country that gave the world the umbrella tie (We’ve not made that up, Google it. It’s exactly what you’re thinking it is).

The car industry generally follows this trend with Japan emerging as a powerhouse of reliability and function in the ‘60s and ‘70s and continuing that until the present day. However, every now and again, the Japanese manufacturers stretch their legs and those sharp functional lines start to flow. To celebrate that breaking of character, we’ve selected the 11 most beautiful cars Japan has ever produced. We also want to caveat that by stating beauty is of course in the eye of the beholder, but you won’t find your Skyline GTRs on this list. Yes, they are cool, but beautiful they are not.

Before the pitchforks start appearing over the horizon, let us begin.

11. Lexus LC500

We’re kicking off with something fairly modern in the Lexus LC500. In our books this might be one of the most underrated cars in recent years with that V8. However, we’re only interested in aesthetics in this list and the LC500 is undoubtedly a gorgeous car. It manages to be both aggressive and elegant in equal measure.

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10. Lexus LFA

If the LC500 gets a place on the list, we can’t ignore its relative the evocative LFA. If this list was about the best Japanese cars of all time, it’d be knocking on the door of the top spot, but in this aesthetic-focussed list, it has to make do with a top 10 spot. Having seen its successor at this year’s Festival of Speed sponsored by Mastercard, the new LFA may well top this list in future.

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9. Nissan 300ZX

This one might cause a little controversy, but as we’re only selecting one Z-car, we’ve got to put my eggs in the 300ZX basket. We can already feel the breath of the 280Z fans down my neck, but just take another look at the 300ZX from every angle. It’s very of its era, but the ‘90s is represented beautifully just by those rear lights alone. This is a very obscure hill we’re willing to die on.

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8. Toyota Celica Coupe

Even if Toyota were trying to emulate the muscle cars of America with the Celica GT, they’ve inadvertently produced something more beautiful than any muscle car of the era. It may be as ‘70s as a corduroy jacket and the Watergate Scandal, but it has the beauty of a ‘60s car.

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7. Mazda Cosmo

The Cosmo was the flagship of Mazda’s range in the ‘60s. It was a futuristic design but undeniably beautiful at the same time. The name Cosmo was the perfect fit with the global fascination of the Space Race and weirdly still gives us The Jetsons vibes.

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6. Toyota Supra mk5

There has been a lot of controversy surrounding the latest Toyota Supra. The Mk5 was heavily criticized for effectively being a BMW Z4 under the skin, but once again we reiterate that we don’t care about that in this list. As we’re looking at pure aesthetics, the new Supra is right up there with the best Japan has ever made. We don’t say that lightly, but just take a minute to look at it from every angle - it is a stunner.

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5. Mazda RX-7 FD

A proper cult hero, the RX-7 is famous for its Wankel engine performance and rightly so. However, it would be a travesty to overlook how beautiful this ‘90s classic is. Flowing lines, perfect proportions, you wouldn’t bat an eyelid if you’d been told this was Giorgetto Giugiaro’s latest design.

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4. Honda S2000

It was very hard not to put the S800 or the S660 in this list, but it was an either-or situation. Like the Z-car we’re only including one S roadster and the S2000, in AP1 or AP2 form just takes the biscuit. It’s one of those cars that at any angle, looks flawless.

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3. Honda NSX

Famously influenced by Ayrton Senna, the Mk1 NSX still holds up today as a beautiful car. The ‘Japanese Ferrari’ certainly takes some inspiration from some Italian marques, but remains individual enough to not look like a cheap copy. It would make this list just from the rear alone.

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2. Nissan R390 GT1

This is a little bit cheeky seeing as only one was ever made for the road and it was fairly crap as a race car, but just look at it. There is really nothing else to say other than a GT1 car for the road is going to be near the top of any list.

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Image courtesy of RM Sotheby's.

1. Toyota 2000 GT

Here it is. The most beautiful Japanese car of all time, hands down – the Toyota 2000 GT. There are a few arguments that can be made for it being near the top of an all-time most beautiful list regardless of country. With strong design cues from the Jaguar E-type, the 2000 GT managed to completely change the world view of Japan’s car industry. It was the first evidence that Japan can design something outside of functionality and my goodness, they succeeded.

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