Slide show: Motor shows special

Click here for more pictures of customised cars at SEMA.

This year’s Tokyo Motor Show featured one of fastest production cars of the year – and a single-seater PIXY pod.

And as Japan’s premier motor show gathers pace, the city of sin opens its doors as the world’s hottest aftermarket tuners descend on the Nevada desert for the 2007 Speciality Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show.

Vijay Pattni takes a look at the show stoppers from both shows.

Tokyo

Take the new Nissan GT-R – the hotly anticipated progeny of the mind-blowing Nissan Skyline.

All the petrolhead benchmarks are present: it packs nearly 500bhp, completes the 0-62mph benchmark in 3.8 seconds, and rockets on to a top speed of 192mph.

And it lapped the mighty Nüburgring in just seven minutes and 38 seconds – faster than the ballistic Bugatti Veyron.

Mazda also promoted its latest creation at the show – a car based on ‘the flowing robes that enable a celestial maiden to fly in Japanese legend’ – the Taiki concept.

But look beneath that fantastically-sculpted exterior and you have the latest incarnation of Mazda’s storming rotary engine – rumoured to power the next generation of RX-based coupes.

Suzuki has a very different idea on the future of travel, with its quirky PIXY pods which encase occupants in single-person bubbles and transport them around.

SEMA

The SEMA show hosts a crazy collection of customised cars – as well as showcasing a dizzying array of aftermarket tuners and even some celebrities – including ‘Mad Mike’ from popular MTV show ‘Pimp My Ride’.

On display this year is the Chevrolet HHR Panel SS concept – a pumped-up estate featuring a host of customised styling additions.

And General Motors is set to unveil the striking Saturn Astra Tuner Concept – a Vauxhall Astra SRi for those of us in Europe.

While the stunning exterior may model itself on the storming Vauxhall Astra VXR, the US-badged Saturn Astra will feature an uprated 1.8-litre engine producing 160bhp.

Not to be outdone by the American onslaught, Honda has announced details of a factory-modified version of the stunning Honda Accord Coupe – the HFP.