Japan's 280 bhp Agreement

i read a little bit ago that several years back some japanese car companies got together and had an agreement that they wouldn't produce a car that contained more than 280 hp. Mazda hates Nissan b/c when they released the GT-R r33 they claimed it only had 280 bhp when in actuality it had a bit more (mazda was honest and has always limited the RX-7 to no more than 280).

does anybody know anything else about this deal? such as car co.'s involved, when it was made, is it still around? i know the whole thing is kinda weird since the supra tt has had 320 hp and the nsx-t has 290

Ah yes, the gentlemen's agreement. Officially, no production car in Japan is supposed to be listed with more than 280 horsepower at the flywheel. I think the guys at Mazda probably got over the GT-R's stock power when they found out Nissan could pop on an optimized ECU and squeeze 360 out of the RB26DETT. They were more than happy with the stock computer then. :smoker2:

The JDM MKIV Supra TT was spec'ed at 280 hp. And it seems that it was actually limited to that. The U.S. Supra went 13.3 in the 1.4 mile, while the Japanese Supra came in at 14 flat, 7/10s of a second slower! An American-market car that's faster than its Japanese domestic cousin? Sounds crazy. The JDM Supra came with smaller injectors (430cc vs. 540) and a different final drive. So they didn't just "chip it" like many other manufacturers did.

The NSX at least used to conform to the 280 limit. I remember one dynoing at 270. Of course, who knows how much it puts out above redline. Redline is 8k, but the rev limiter doesn't kick in until 8300 (don't tell the owner I know this!). Remember, the numbers they give you in the U.S. don't necessarily reflect what they tell the people of Japan.

As far as I know, the agreement is still in effect. In fact, I believe it's law. Japan has always had some interesting laws concerning automotibiles, and many of these are responsible for the development of the high-tech, small-displacement motors we know and love. In other words, if it wasn't for weird regulations and subsidies, I might be cruising around in a pushrod 650ZX Twin Ram-Air. Ack, that sent a shiver down my spine... :eek:

Very interesting laws... Like 180KM/H speedo limiting...

More news on the "gentlemen's agreement", seems like Japanese car manufacturers are tired of conforming as it looks like both the new Z car and the Skyline GTR will blow away this power limit when release... I'm not 100% on the power they are quoting though.

thank you ever so much. yea i think its time to up the 280 limit. actually i think they should get rid of this law and replace it with a limitation on engine size - i don't think any vehicle seriously needs anything more than a 3.5ish liter engine

but what was the reason for this law, how is producing all engines at the same HP being a gentleman? there still competing(price,looks,handling,etc), and if they didnt have this law on HP, they would be competing with each other over HP, and so therefor each new model that came out would be faster, so now theres no competition so why try, or was it that some companies just couldnt keep up with others?
i always thought it was because of emmisions and noise.