“If you really want to stand out from a crowd, nothing comes close to the Orochi,” wrote Britain’s Auto Express magazine. Here at Mitsuoka Motors, that’s our philosophy down to a tee. From the popular little Viewt to the Galue flagship, we’ve designed and delivered more than 20,000 stand-out cars over the last 20 years, but the Orochi is without doubt our crowning achievement. It is an everyday supercar that anyone can drive.

 

 

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So who is Mitsuoka Motors? We have been dealing in used cars and building Micro Car since the mid-1982s, and started building our own vehicles in the late 70s. Realizing a dream of company founder Susumu Mitsuoka, we began creating cars with unique bodies in the 1993 culminating with the compact Viewt, a rebadged Nissan Micra which has sold more than 10,000 units.

                  　

      BUBU501series                 ZERO1                               VIEWT

 

But the goal of Mitsuoka had always been to achieve carmaker status, a hurdle the company cleared when it built the Zero 1 sports car in 1994. By successfully designing and building its own unique chassis for the Zero 1, Mitsuoka was finally recognized as Japan’s 10^th carmaker in 1996, a feat that had not occurred since Honda arrived on the scene back in the late 1950s. The Orochi too has its very own unique, hand-built chassis.

When the Orochi debuted at the 2001 Tokyo Motor Show, the sleek coupe caused a sensation with its bold, original curves. After a further five years of development, we unveiled the finished product in October, 2006 – an everyday supercar that can be driven everyday and by just about any member of the family. Looking like nothing else on the road, the Orochi is a real head-turner, irrespective of age or gender. Now, with a strong desire to further develop and consolidate the Mitsuoka brand name, we have decided to expand our marketing scope for the Orochi to target a global audience by sourcing talented sales experts in overseas markets.

 

In line with that goal, we plan to continue supplying new unique models in the years to come to clearly differentiate our products from the rest of the market.

 

 

It goes without saying that the Orochi’s main characteristic is its individualistic design. Inspired by the image of a huge serpent or snake, the design theme focused on “mysteriousness” with a hint of “awe.

 

　               　

Boasting headlights that conjure up snake eyes and a bonnet bulge resembling the top of a snake’s head, the front end is like nothing else on the road today. And the reptilian-inspired contours flowing forward to aft were meticulously penned in to recreate the image of a snake attacking its prey. The rear end maintains the aesthetic drama with tail lights that also hint at snake eyes while the engine cover and boot design portray the image of a snake’s belly. Further enhancing the sporty nature of the rear, we also fitted dual tailpipe mufflers with oval finishers.

 

Conventional supercars employ large capacity engines boasting huge power output, but often ignore modern road conditions and environmental issues. The Mitsuoka Orochi breaks that mould. Our everyday supercar blends excellent performance with fuel efficiency, thus minimizing the car’s impact on the environment.

 

Fitted with a Toyota-built 3.3-litre V6 engine, the fully air-conditioned Orochi is designed for comfortable, smooth driving in any conditions. This coupe is meticulously hand-built at Mitsuoka’s factory in Toyama City to the highest levels of Japanese craftsmanship. Only 400 units will be built making the Orochi a rare, and we think much sought-after limited edition Made-in-Japan supercar.

 

        

 The two most critical issues for our design team were getting the styling and chassis configuration just right. And that caused a few headaches for our engineers as the common thread running through the design process was, “No compromises!” So while such a philosophy made it impossible to incorporate a solid roll bar across the roof line, we were able to create a unique chassis that delivers superb ride quality and handling.

The Orochi employs a spaceframe structure using four different sizes of steel pipes built onto a ladder frame employing 45mm x 75mm square piping. To achieve high levels of body stiffness and rigidity, we fitted large cross sections and braces to the centre console and side sills.

 

With such emphasis placed on chassis engineering, is it any wonder that our design team adopted a catch-cry that “the car would drive by chassis alone,” or put more simply, it should perform to a driver’s will. Unlike the current crop of sporty cars that employ monocoque structures to achieve overall stiffness, our aim to capture the fundamentals of pure driving pleasure using nothing but a well-tuned chassis paid off.

 

 

In addition to our uniquely designed and built chassis, the Orochi’s double wishbone suspension setup was also exclusively designed in-house. Consisting of A-type upper and lower arms for both the front and rear, the setup resembles current double wishbone construction.

 

However, to achieve the superior ride quality we envisaged, we employed a mono shock absorber on the front and a twin shock absorber configuration at the rear. We employed a ball bearing setup at the joint on the knuckle side of the rear lower arm to generate extra support and rigidity for the rear-heavy Orochi. As a result, our coupe is a true long distance cruising coupe thanks to its supple ride level.

 

 

Featuring a 233hp mid-ship V6 engine layout driving the rear wheels, the Orochi complies with the latest safety and crash test regulations. And by achieving high levels of environmental awareness in terms of superior fuel economy and emissions, the Orochi exhibits a new direction that Mitsuoka sees for supercars.

 

As the Orochi employs a tubular steel pipe construction, it cannot absorb the full impact of a collision in the same way as a monocoque body structure. (In a collision, steel pipes bend and deform and are unable to absorb crash energy.)

 

Although the installation of safety features such as seatbelts and airbags are instrumental in absorbing initial collision shock, a passenger’s crash momentum cannot be fully absorbed unless we start the shock absorption load in the chassis at the initial stages of the collision. Mitsuoka achieved this process of beginning the initial shock absorption by installing aluminium shock absorbing material in the front end, utilizing the rigid – hard to collapse – nature of square pipes. To further lift crash safety levels, the fuel tank was located in the centre of the car with pipe frames surrounding it.

 

As our flagship sedan, the Galue is its own car, not influenced by others. It boasts a sophisticated and dignified exterior and offers topnotch ride levels as well. The Galue is offered in either 2500cc or 3500cc V6 variants.

The convertible model to favor the charm of the flagship sedan, Galue further appears. The Galue Convertible is offered by the variation of 4600cc V8 or 4000cc V6.

Employing the nostalgic, retro look of a Jaguar MkII, the Viewt is by far our most successful model, selling in excess of 10,000 units. Fitted to a Nissan Micra platform, the Viewt is available in either 1200cc, 1400cc or 1500cc 4-cylinder engines.

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Mitsuoka Motors endeavors to design its cars with originality a primary concern, while leaving room in the styling process for a strong dose of classical style, a combination that has proven successful in Japan and elevated our brand image considerably over the past few years. We hope that you will seriously consider our unique product.