Honda Australia could offer Mugen parts for Prelude

Honda Australia is looking at expanding its Prelude offering, which could lead to performance components from legendary Japanese Honda tuner Mugen being officially offered by local Honda dealers for the first time.

The Prelude name returned to Australia in May 2026 after an absence of more than two decades, and while the brand has said a hot Type R version of the born-again coupe is not imminent, it isn't ruling out offering more options for buyers of the hybrid sports car.

“We are looking at different ways in which we could add, I guess, layers to the Prelude over its lifecycle,” Honda Australia director Rob Thorp told CarExpert.

This could include tuning parts from Mugen, which has already revealed a Mugen-equipped version of the new Prelude in Japan.

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It adds front and rear under spoilers, a rear spoiler, rear diffuser treatment, and carbon-fibre side skirts, while other Prelude parts from Mugen include a sports exhaust system.

Mugen Japan announced Garage IMMI as its new Australian distributor in June, in what is believed to be its first official Australian distribution agreement in many years.

“The Mugen side of the business is an interesting one,” Mr Thorp told CarExpert.

“It's one that we haven't really been able to lean into much locally yet, but we're working on things.”

Mugen – now trading as M-TEC – was founded in 1973 by Hirotoshi Honda, the son of Honda founder Soichiro Honda, and is responsible for performance upgrade packages for Honda road cars, while also competing in motorsport including Formula 1.

Its Australian catalogue extends beyond the Prelude, with parts for a wide range of Honda models including the current Civic Type R, as well as older vehicles such as the S2000 sports car and the original Honda NSX.

The comments from the Honda Australia director come only weeks after rival Nissan – with which Honda is discussing a potential global partnership – announced plans to open its first local Nismo Performance Centre Melbourne later this year.

It will be the first outlet for Nismo (which stands for Nissan Motorsports and is the company's official performance arm) outside Japan, with plans to expand across Australia and New Zealand.

It will offer performance parts for the Nissan Z coupe, as well as historic models such as the legendary R32 Skyline GT-R.

Similarly, Toyota Australia has said it is exploring stand-alone showrooms for its GR (Gazoo Racing) performance division to showcase models such as the GR86 coupe, and potentially future revivals of the MR2 and Celica sports cars.

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