This wild Nissan Frontier has a 446bhp supercharged V6 and a manual handbrake

We love a souped-up, overpowered truck with non-existent wheel well space at Top Gear, and Nissan Motorsport’s latest skunkworks project, the Frontier ‘Tarmac’, is pretty much all of those things.

It’s a one-off, track-ready muscle truck that’s loosely based on the ‘PRO-X’ trim level, but has a water-cooled supercharger stuck to its 3.8-litre V6. That not only means more screams, noise and tyre smoke, but a hefty power increase to 446bhp/400lb ft. That’s enough to worry Dom’s crew, should you run into them at your local sandwich bar.

The Tarmac also gets upgraded brakes, with two calipers per corner at the rear to make handbrake turns easier, a bespoke new suspension setup with a six-inch lowering kit and adjustable coilovers. Result? It now sits as low to the ground as the average ant.

Coated in Afterburn Orange paint, the carbon fibre bodywork has proper Need for Speed-grade bumpers and fins, including a rear wing on the tailgate, and wheel arches that make the Tarmac four inches wider than the normal car. 

The 20in forged Nismo wheels are wrapped around Yokohama Advan tyres, and underbody neon lighting is thrown in for good measure. Yeah, we’re getting major Underground 2 vibes from this thing.

Inside, there’s a carbonised, part-Alcantara steering wheel, Recaro seats and more use of Afterburn Orange. But the main attraction is the big manual handbrake, which instantly makes us want to film our very own Gymkhana.

At its debut at this year’s SEMA show, Nissan Motorsport's Kevin Lutz said: "The floor at SEMA used to be filled with low-slung, high-performance midsized trucks, so it's easy to imagine a return of that trend. Owners of trucks like the Frontier frequently love to customise their vehicles, so we're considering how we can best serve their needs beyond off-road parts.”

For more context, Nissan says the Frontier Tarmac also previews Nismo performance parts of the future. No word on whether said parts will come together to form a no-holds-barred performance truck like this for official sale though, sadly. Reckon you’d be interested if it did?