K.O 7 production begins

By Peter Lyon

16th September 2008

Here’s a pair of sports cars set to KO the competition!

The K.O 7 Spider and K.O 8 Coupé you see here are the handiwork of Ken Okuyama, former design chief at Pininfarina and now owner of Ken Okuyama Design – Japan’s first independent coachbuilder.

Both cars were unveiled at the 2008 Geneva Motor Show in March, but Okuyama has today announced that production of the K.O 7 is underway.

Sales of the Spider will officially begin online on November 1st for 2009 model year cars, priced at around £105,000. An ‘inner circle’ of fans have already snapped up the 20 cars produced this year, though 99 will be made in 2009, and a further 99 in 2010.
 
Power for the 750kg carbon fibre and aluminium Spider comes from the 2.0-litre engine found in the Honda S2000, linked to a six-speed manual gearbox and generating 250bhp at 8,300rpm. And thanks to a deal with watch manufacturer TAG Heuer, a TAG Grand Carrera is fitted into the dashboard!

Despite showing the K.O 8 Coupé – a hard top electric sports car based on the K.O 7 – at today’s Tokyo conference, Okuyama did not reveal any plans to put the car into production yet. The K.O 8 is Japan’s answer to the Tesla Roadster, powered by a 134bhp electric motor capable of 100 miles between charges.