In Japan, two words exist to describe the future, 将来 (shōrai) and 未来 (mirai). Both indeed describe a future, but the kinds of future they describe imply a different meaning. The 未 (mi) in 未来 means “not yet” or “uncertain”, to imply a very distant future that is cloudy, uncertain and subject to change. 将来 implies the opposite, with 将 (shō) implying something firm, or guaranteed. A known future that lies ahead is what 将来 means, but an uncertain distant future is 未来. Through the N.U.D.E. Philosophy, Sendo has made the guaranteed 将来 further into the future, and has pushed back the uncertain 未来.
The Sendo Friesia is a 2-seat, 2-door front-engine V10-powered luxury sports car produced by Sendo Automobile Atelier from 2004 to 2011. Slotting below the GT-Sport in the company’s line-up, it is regarded as the company’s entry-level model by some.
Since the release of the first Sendo GT in the 80s, and the acquisition of a stable customer base that consisted of the old-money type, executives consistently pushed for an attempt to appeal to a younger audience. Following the burst of the Japanese economic bubble in the 90s, however, these attempts have been pushed back numerous times.
In 1999, Sendo released the Future 2000 concept as a preview of what was to come. It was a 2-seat coupe envisioned with a 12-cylinder engine and a highly intelligent four-wheel-drive system. Continued financial troubles with the parent companies further added delays to the addition of a new vehicle to the lineup.
Later at the 2001 Tokyo Auto Show, the N.U.D.E. concept car was unveiled to the public, with N.U.D.E. standing for Natural Urban Design & Engineering. A more refined design than the Future 2000, the N.U.D.E. not only previewed a closer finalized design for the future Friesia, but also a preview of the new Sendo design language overall. The N.U.D.E. concept featured a 4.5-litre naturally aspirated V10, a 6-speed dual-clutch transaxle, and rear-wheel-drive. Penned by Canadian-American designer John Adrian Fournier, the N.U.D.E. was the first Sendo to be designed by a non-Japanese designer. Fournier would later go on to design the Friesia itself.
The Friesia debuted at the 2004 Geneva International Motor Show, after a development time period of roughly six years. It went on sale in the United States as a 2005 model year, then Europe, and Japan in the same year it debuted at Geneva.
The Friesia was equipped with a semi-new V10 design based off of the architecture of the Sendo V12. It shared roughly 65% of parts with the existing engine to save development and manufacturing costs. The 4.8-litre engine in its base form produced 420 horsepower at 7200 RPM, and 520 Nm of torque at 5500 RPM. Dry sump lubrication prevents engine oil starvation through high-speed corners and lowers the engine’s center of mass. The Friesia’s engineers selected a V10 engine over an equivalent displacement V8 engine for its ability to rev higher and over a V12 for its lower reciprocating mass, allowing for more rapid engine response. All Friesia V10’s were hand-made at the Yokosuka Powertrain facility in Japan, and compared to the V12, only needed 5 people to go over the entire design process, speeding up manufacturing and reducing costs further.
Attached to the V10 is a newly-designed 8-speed automatic transaxle, one of the first of its design. After gaining additional gear ratios only with additional components, this time the number of components has to decrease while the number of ratios still increase. The new transmission uses a Lepelletier epicyclic/planetary gearset, which can provide more gear ratios with significantly fewer components. This means the 8-speed is actually lighter than some of its 6-speed counterparts. A conventional planetary gearset and a compound Ravigneaux gearset is combined in a Lepelletier gear mechanism, to reduce both the size and weight. It was first realized here. Like all transmissions realized with Lepelletier transmissions, this 8-speed also dispenses with the use of the direct gear ratio, making it one of the very few automatic transmission concepts without such a ratio. It also has the capability to achieve torque converter lock-up on all eight forward gears, and disengage it completely when at a standstill, significantly closing the fuel efficiency gap between automatic and manual transmissions.
Inside the Friesia’s cabin is like other Sendos, a completely hand-made interior crafted by master artisans in Japan. To keep costs minimized, a synthetic vegan leather is utilized throughout the interior in the Friesia’s base form instead of the usual authentic Italian leather typically used on other Sendo models. Brushed aluminum and steel were used throughout to give a futuristic forward-leaning impression. Like other models, however, the buyer has the option of completely customizing their interior down to the finest detail. Various interior options were available, including a highly complex DILAD projector head unit that projected the display onto a transparent acrylic-like cover that offered a view into the engine bay of the Friesia when the projector was disabled. Another option was a glass cover over the interior electronics, akin to the Apple Macintoshes of the day. Options like the DILAD screen and glass interior were cost-prohibitive and not common, however, and they often added weeks to the build and waiting time for Friesias when selected.
The Friesia had the most amount of color options available upon its release, from the regular selection of Sendo colours, to various special mystichrome paintworks that could cost over $30,000. The most expensive of all paints being the Hokkaido Snow Pearlescent, coming at a price of $37,000.
A unique clock design was available for the Friesia starting in 2005, dubbed the Flos Tourbillon, it was an option available only with the glass interior and DILAD screen and was priced at $16,000.
The first-generation Friesia would end production in 2011, making way for the second-generation that same year.
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