HKS: Japan's First and Largest Tuner, Founded 1973
Hiroyuki Hasegawa founded HKS in 1973 making aftermarket turbo kits out of his Shizuoka garage. Today it's Japan's biggest tuning house, with 800+ employees and benchmark drag and time-attack cars.
HKS: Japan's First and Largest Tuner, Founded 1973
If you own a JDM turbo car, you've probably touched an HKS part. Hiroyuki Hasegawa founded the company in 1973 in Shizuoka Prefecture after leaving Yamaha. His goal was simple: build aftermarket turbo kits for street cars. Japan had no tuning industry at the time.
The Early Years (1973-1985)
HKS sold its first turbo kit for the Toyota Corolla Levin TE27 in 1974. By the late 1970s, HKS turbo kits were available for nearly every Japanese performance model, decades before US companies like Garrett had a consumer brand.
Hasegawa's breakthrough was survivor-focused engineering. Early HKS kits used cast iron manifolds instead of fabricated tubular, heavier turbochargers rated for long service life, and conservative boost levels (5-7 psi). HKS customers drove the cars daily.
The 1990s: Peak HKS
By the 1990s, HKS had 300+ employees and a complete catalog:
- Turbo kits for every 2JZ, RB, 4G63, SR20, and 13B
- ECU systems (F-Con V Pro — the gold standard for standalone JDM tuning)
- Cam gears, cams, valve springs (HKS became the de facto valvetrain upgrade for high-rev builds)
- Exhaust systems (Hi-Power, Silent Hi-Power, Super Drager, and the iconic HKS fender exit)
- Coilovers, clutches, intercoolers, blow-off valves (the HKS SSQV BOV became the most-copied sound in JDM)
The Demos
HKS built benchmark demo cars for marketing:
- HKS Drag R33 GT-R — 8.5-second quarter mile in the early 2000s, the first GT-R to break nine seconds.
- HKS Time Attack CT230R Evo IX — Tsukuba record-holder under 55 seconds.
- HKS Racing Performer 2JZ — crate engine making 1,000+ hp.
- HKS Formula Altia — the wild F1-inspired GT3000 time attack car (never raced).
HKS Today
HKS now employs 800+ people across Japan, Thailand, and the USA. The Shizuoka headquarters includes a full engine R&D facility and a chassis dyno. The company continues to manufacture nearly every hard part in-house — an unusual trait in a global aftermarket that has otherwise consolidated manufacturing to contract suppliers.
Recent HKS demo cars (the GT1000 R35, the TF Works Evo X) continue to push Tsukuba and drag records.
Why HKS Matters
HKS turned Japanese aftermarket tuning from a small grassroots hobby into a global industry. Nearly every other Japanese tuner on this list either started after HKS or partnered with HKS at some point. When Hasegawa built his first turbo kit in his Shizuoka garage, the Japanese automotive industry didn't believe the aftermarket could exist. HKS proved them wrong.