East meets west with Kenwood UK’s wide-body modified VW Scirocco…
Over the past three decades, Japanese car culture has widely been celebrated in UK magazines and rightly so. Whether it be Gran Turismo, Wangan runs, Best Motoring videos or the infamous Midnight Club, Japan has forever been a topic of much interest and conversation. Here in the UK car scene, the Japanese are also well known for their tuning prowess and ability to create innovative products that will transform your in-car entertainment experience.
For the past 10-years, Kenwood Electronics has lead the way with a whole host of multimedia products that have demolished the competition. And now they’ve completely redesigned their Volkswagen Scirocco demo car and it’s absolutely blinding. How did this second lease of life all come about, then?
“Cars are all about relationships, so we wanted to work with people and brands that have supported us over the years and those who have a shared vision”, explains Adam Handley, Sales and Marketing boss at JVCKENWOOD UK. “We wanted to use products from around the globe and celebrate the way the Japanese always build their cars with style and passion.” Adam tells us. “This is when Khyzyl Saleem came on board to help with the styling of the Scirocco.”
Now if you haven’t heard of Khyzyl Saleem, then open Instagram and search for @the_kyza because this guy is worth a follow. It was a smart move for Kenwood to team up with Kyza. His style is wild and always on point and if you’re going to make an impact then you need to go against the grain, but in a positive way. When you think about wild Scirocco builds here in the UK, there really aren’t that many.
With this in mind, the car needed to be toughed up, so before any of the other parts were decided upon, a set of Voomeran wide arches were ordered from Hideo san in Japan. With these shipped and a landing date set for the girth-giving arches, here on our tiny island, there would be approximately 6-weeks to take this car from near stock to a useable show car.
This sounds like ages, but for those of you who have created feature cars and cover cars, you’ll know that this time soon passes you by. Enter Garage Midnight and Riiva Design. These two companies collaborated on the interior redesign and the all-important wheel fitment. “We got the car into Riiva’s workshop and had James and Keith from Kenwood swing by for a cuppa tea. Two boils of the kettle and a few packets of Jaffa Cakes later and we had a decision: The interior of the car was to be kept simple, in contrast to the wild, almost 80’s Tiger Stripe vibe of the exterior”, explains Ryan from Garage Midnight.
Parts were swiftly ordered. Air Lift Performance suspension, bespoke Rotiform wheels, Cobra seats and Toyo tyres were all sent to Riiva Design. The execution of the metalwork that adorns the interior of the ‘rocco was a collaboration between Riiva and MMR Performance. The seamless tank upgrade looks the nuts.
If you didn’t know the car was rolling on Air Lift Performance, then a quick look through the tinted glass gives the game away. Your eye is quickly drawn to the seats which Cobra have created for this build. Using a Nogaro design, the harness slots have been deleted and Interlagos fabric from the Mk5 Golf GTi has been used for the seat centres. This special fabric will find its way onto the gear gaitor, handbrake handle and door cards over the next few weeks.
When we photographed the car it was still being buttoned-up. To be completely honest, we wanted to get this car in the pages of FC right away and talked Kenwood into letting us shoot it for this issue. So, you can expect to see this evolve over the course of the show season as Team Kenwood take the car to as many events as humanly possible. It’s a joy to look at, too. Beefier Scirocco R bumpers front and rear work so well with the Voomeran arches.
Wheels always make or break a car’s looks. And these bespoke Rotiform wheels give the Kenwood Scirocco so much impact. The fitment is millimetre perfect and they have been installed with no spacers. And absolute testament to Rotiform’s experience in always delivery what their customer’s need. Measuring 19×10-inches front and rear, the design pays tribute to Kenwood’s history in motorsport. Jason at Rotiform had these created especially for the build with VCE’s used at the front and LHR’s at the rear. The centres are finished in white gloss with the lips fully polished. These have been wrapped in Toyo’s grippy 235/35×19 tyres. A classic combo. It’s fair to say the Kenwood boys are going to be using a lot of Meguiar’s keeping these clean over the forthcoming year!
Japanese culture is about honour, respect and following through on your word. With this all-new look for their Scirocco, Kenwood are walking the walk, as well as talking the talk. Check it out at a show this year and let the lads know what you think.
Words Ben Chandler Photos Mark Riccioni
