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If you shrink the Defender into a kei car, chances are you’ll get something similar to this
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–> by Thanos Pappas
2 hours ago
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by Thanos Pappas
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People love the design of the new Land Rover Defender, inspiring Japanese tuner ESB Style for some pretty quirky tuning kits. After launching the TFENDER which is based on the Toyota ProBox, the company applied a similar treatment to the Honda N-Van, transforming it into the “Hondafunder”.
The redesigned bodykit includes a new front bumper, featuring a new grille and intakes that are mirroring the looks of the Land Rover SUV with the necessary adaptations for the tiny nose of the kei car. The Honda N-Van already had Defender-style round LED headlight graphics, so no modification was needed for those. The Honda emblem is gone, but there’s “Dafunder” lettering on the bonnet.
Read: Japanese Tuner ESB Will Either Lift Or Slam Your Widebody Suzuki Jimny
The profile didn’t need that much work, other than the duo-tone paintwork that is inspired by crossovers, and the square body-colored island on the greenhouse resembling the Land Rover Defender. The tuner also added a lift kit for the suspension, increasing the ground clearance by 25 mm (1 inch) for an adventurous stance, in combination with the white 14-inch steel wheels shod in grippy all-terrain tires. More importantly, unlike the genuine Defender, the N-Van comes with rear sliding doors, making it more practical in that context.
Moving over at the back, it is hard to imagine how a tiny van would resemble a rugged SUV, but the tuner tried its best with the minimum changes in body panels. The new rear bumper got a faux aluminum skid plate, and the vertically mounted taillights got special covers making them look thinner and slightly more rugged. At the end of the day, 90% of the rear end is covered by the tailgate so there wasn’t much to do. Here, the Honda emblem is combined with a “Hondafunder” lettering, revealing the imposter nature of the vehicle.
There are no modifications under the bonnet, which means that the Hondafunder comes fitted with the standard three-cylinder 660 cc petrol engine that produces up to 63 hp (47 kW / 64 PS) in its most potent and turbocharged form. The same engine is used in the N-Box passenger-focused twin, and in the mechanically-related N-One urban hatchback. Power is transmitted to either the front or to all four wheels through a CVT gearbox.
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If you are wondering about the cost of the Defender-style bodykit, the front bumper is priced at ¥70,000 ($519), the rear bumper at ¥30,000 ($222), the taillight cover at ¥25,000 ($185), the suspension lift kit at ¥38,000 ($282), and a set of 14-inch steel wheels at ¥56,000 ($415). Finally, for those that want to upgrade the interior, ESB Style offers special seat covers priced at ¥50,000 ($371).
Fun fact, the Japanese automaker is not a total stranger to the British firm, since the original Honda Crossroad (1993-1998) was nothing more but a rebadged Land Rover Discovery Series I (1989-1998) for Japan.
