Built by Racers, for Drivers

TEIN was born in the early 1980s from a simple but determined decision: if no suspension existed that could handle the demands of serious rally competition, they would build their own. Founded by co-driver Hakaru Ichino and rally driver Yoshio Fujimoto, two rivals turned partners who had risen to the top of the Kanagawa rally scene, TEIN started in a 25m² workshop where every part was designed, machined, and assembled by hand. That relentless, hands-on approach produced shock absorbers so capable that word spread rapidly across Japan, and by 1990 TEIN launched its first branded product range to overwhelming demand.

The Pursuit That Never Ends

Now a publicly listed company with sales in the billions of Yen and a global distribution network, TEIN remains a suspension specialist at its core, never diversifying beyond what it does best. As Ichino and Fujimoto themselves put it, there is no such thing as a goal at TEIN, because the perfect suspension has not yet been made. That conviction drives a product range spanning coilovers, mono-tube dampers, lowering springs, and ride height adjustable systems, covering an extensive range of Japanese, European, and American platforms, all developed with the same passion that started in a small workshop decades ago.

A Motorsport Legacy That Shaped the Product

TEIN's competition credentials are extraordinary. Fujimoto became the first Japanese driver ever selected for a Toyota WRC works team, and in 1995 claimed overall victory at the Safari Rally, another Japanese first. During the same period, TEIN dampers achieved an 80% share of all dampers used in Japan's N1 Taikyu endurance series. These achievements were not separate from the product development process, they were central to it. Every race, every rally stage, and every piece of feedback from competition directly informed the engineering of each TEIN suspension system brought to market.