"Tommy Kaira began its true activity in the automotive world in 1987 when it unveiled a tuned Mercedes-Benz 190E which was conveniently renamed as "Tommy Kaira M19". Coincidentally, the first ever tuned cars by Tommy Kaira were not manufactured by a Japanese company but rather by a European one: this led to the birth of the aforementioned M19 and the M30E (based on the Mercedes-Benz 300E). Nevertheless, from 1988 onwards Tommy Kaira began to exclusively work on automobiles made in Japan, establishing along past years successful contracts with giant manufacturers Nissan and Subaru. Historically, Tommy Kaira has focused its efforts in providing extensive mechanical and visual improvements to mainly four cars: Nissan Skyline, Nissan March, Subaru Impreza andSubaru Legacy. In 1988, the company tuned for the first time a Nissan Skyline R31 (rebranded as Tommy Kaira M30), in 1993 the turn was for the Subaru Impreza (M20b) and the Nissan March (m13) and, finally, in 1994 the first Subaru Legacy Wagon (M20tb) received attention from the Kyoto-based company. In 2010 Tommy Kaira tuned the Nissan GTR R35 called Tommy Kaira GTR R35.
Tommy Kaira has not limited its tuning activity just to the four models mentioned; over the past few decades models like the Nissan 300ZX, Nissan Silvia, Toyota Vitz, Nissan 350Z and several kei carsfrom different Japanese car manufacturers have been customized according to the company's exclusive tuning processes. Due to the great dimension of mechanical and visual improvements worked out on the cars, Tommy Kaira has consistently rebranded the cars as if they were completely manufactured by the company itself, with the consent of the parent manufacturers: for example, a Subaru Impreza is rebranded as Tommy Kaira M20b or a Nissan 350Z turns out into a Tommy Kaira Z. This phenomenon is not unusual around the world as German manufacturers such as Ruf and Gemballaoperate in a similar way with Porsche automobiles.
On the other hand, the rebranding process carried out by Tommy Kaira has arisen some controversy directly related to the status of the company as a car manufacturer. According to the information spot provided by the PlayStation videogame Gran Turismo 2 about the Kyoto-based company, "in 1988 [Tommy Kaira] succeeded in introducing Tommy Kaira M30, Japan's first fully modified high performance car [...][while] in 1997, [it] manufactured and marketed its original sports car, the ZZ". In general terms, the 1988 M30 model is regarded as the first integrally tuned Japanese automobile, an integral tuning that implied rebranding of the original model. This fact acknowledged the capability of Tommy Kaira as an important aftermarket manufacturer and prepared the way for the launch of the company as a consolidated car manufacturer with the self-conceived 1996 ZZ model."
