SINGAPORE – Instead of extolling the exceptional range of the new plug-in hybrid Jaecoo J8, its agent Vertex Automobile spins an alternate tale of the 2,260kg seven-seat sport utility vehicle (SUV).

To do this, it invites motoring writers to twisty South Buona Vista Road to enact a local version of Initial D (1995 to 2013), an iconic manga about the exploits of Takumi Fujiwara, a tofu deliveryman and drift king.