Honda Malaysia’s teased it and John Cena’s just bought one; now this neat little number has turned up at the 2026 Tokyo Auto Salon. It’s called the Mugen Prelude Spec III, and of course it’s based on the new Honda Prelude, which launched in Japan in September.
Mugen says this succeeds its 1987 Prelude Spec II, which was based on the third-gen model (the last generation to have pop-up headlamps). That’s a long wait for a threequel, but the world has been without a new Prelude for almost a quarter of a century, lest we forget.
There’ll only be 16 units of the Mugen Prelude Spec III, and if you want one, you’ll have to first buy a Prelude and send it to Mugen. The company will then hold a lottery, and if you emerge one of the 16 luckies, that’ll be 1.65 million yen (RM42k) please, arigato gozaimasu. Mugen will then get to work.
Besides the customary Mugen decals, your Prelude will get an all-round bodykit including a rear diffuser, a boot spoiler and side mirror caps – all in carbon-fibre. Then, a stainless steel sports exhaust system will be installed – get set for some aural stimulation.
The car displayed here is a pre-production unit (serial number 0/16). It’s fitted with 19-inch Mugen FR10 alloys, Mugen brake pads, Mugen floor mats and boot lining, plus Mugen LED-illuminated door sills – all are purchasable separately. The Recaro seats and steering wheel sport Mugen logos – these items are not listed yet on the Mugen website so they could still be at prototype stage.
The new Prelude gets its platform from the Civic, its powertrain from the Civic Hybrid and its suspension and brakes from the Civic Type R – but this is really simplifying things, so digest all you can about the 2+2 coupe here.
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