The multimillion-dollar hypercar business is booming. The world’s ultra-wealthy have dozens and dozens of various outrageously expensive, high-performance toys to pick from, just like the Rimac Nevera or the Mercedes-AMG Project One. Some are so extreme, they’re not even street-legal.
But what’s a tech-forward multibillionaire who’s more into anime than motorsports to do with their discretionary fund?
The Tsubame Archax may be the reply. That is, quite simply, a Gundam fan’s dream made a reality: a 15-foot-tall, $3 million mecha that works identical to the true thing — well, minus just a few pesky details like jet boosters, laser swords, and the neural interfaces explored in a lot of Gundam’s various (and conflicting) timelines.
You don’t earn any bonus points for guessing where this thing was made. It’s on the Japan Mobility Show, where I got up close and private with the $3 million machine and spoke with the team behind it. The primary product of Yokohama-based Tsubame, Archax is the results of 4 years of research and development.
And what a result it’s. Contained in the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition hall, a large place by any standard, Archax towers over the pedestrian supercars and concept machines that dot the space. Every hour or so, Tsubame employees run it through an easy demo, where it lifts its arms, waves to the group, and transforms from Robot mode to Vehicle mode and back again.
Yes, the Archax is a Transformer of sorts. Just like the Autobots, it could actually roll out, but you won’t be confusing this for a VW Beetle or Kenworth K100. Here, it’s more like morphing between two variations on the identical theme.
The Archax has 4 legs, however it doesn’t walk on them as such. At the underside of every is a Yokohama industrial tire of the kind you’d mount on a forklift, each driven by an electrical motor. In Vehicle mode, Archax’s 4 legs are spread apart, lowering the middle of gravity and enabling its maximum speed of about 6mph.
But for wowing your pals or scaring your neighbors, convert it into Robot mode, and it rises to its full height of 15 feet.
The transformation is straightforward by Optimus Prime standards but still quite a sight to behold — and to listen to. Myriad electric motors throughout the chassis all whir into motion to hoist the three.5-ton machine as much as its full height, a process that takes about 15 seconds.
The Archax is a Transformer of sorts
That’s nothing in comparison with the drama of the cockpit opening mechanism. From the surface, the pilot needs to carry a switch situated on the underside left of the Archax’s chassis. 4 separate hatches move in sync to offer access to the lone driver’s chair inside, a fluid motion that could be very much inspired by Gundam robots.
In actual fact, every thing was inspired by the Gundam series. Tsubame CTO Akinori Ishii is the technical director on the Gundam Global Challenge, the group answerable for the full-size Gundam RX-78F00 — which also lives in Yokohama.
“The designer, he’s a young Japanese, inspired by so many animations,” Ishii told me. “It’s his original design, but I feel the essence got here from the Gundam animation.”
The project as a complete is the brainchild of CEO Ryo Yoshida, who posted early pictures of the Archax design on Twitter. Ishii messaged him on there and was hired to assist bring the project to life.