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Honda NSX to spearhead RWD model lineup
Click above for a gallery of the Acura Advanced Sports Car concept.
By most accounts, Honda originally planned to show off the next generation NSX to the seething throngs at last year's Tokyo Motor Show. But due to the less-than-positive reception the Advanced Sports Car concept garnered at the Detroit show, Honda's designers headed back to the drawing board to redesign the front clip housing the 550 hp, 4.5-liter V10.
Now, Autocar has gotten word from a Honda insider that the NSX is bound for the 2009 Tokyo show, sporting a new front end that "has Chevrolet Corvette undertones" and is slated to for production in the fall of 2010.
The new NSX will supposedly kick off Honda's first serious attempt at producing rear-wheel-drive vehicles to rival BMW, Mercedes, Lexus and Infiniti, including new platforms that will underpin Acura's larger sedan offerings and an S2000-based Acura sports car that takes aim at the Mercedes SLK. The launch of Acura's 7-series fighter isn't due to make an appearance until 2015. For Honda' sake, let's hope they can expedite development to make it happen around the turn of the decade.
Gallery: Acura Advanced Sports Car Concept
[Source: Autocar]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Jason 11:37AM (4/17/2008)
The NSX is dead
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Dave 9:24AM (4/18/2008)
What happened with design? The original model though Ferrari like was a distinctive low production model. This new one looks like anything else on the road. Maybe it's time to just call it quits.
Red 11:39AM (4/17/2008)
Technically, it won't be a Honda product. It'll be an Acura globally. And I'll say here what I said on TOV:
The Corvette is not a bad design necessarily. But considering how beautiful and graceful Japanese design can be (think caligraphy, origami, sand gardens, etc) I definitely think it's a waste of potential. German design is classy and generally very upscale looking (think Audi R8), British design is some of the best, period (Aston Martin, Bentley's interiors), Italian's do beautiful sports cars better than anybody (Pinanfarina's Maserati Birdcage Concept, Alfa's 8C), but looking at Mazda's Nagare, Ryuga, etc, concepts, Japanese vehicles really can stand out without being derivative of the Europeans.
Asking people to pay for an Acura that looks like a Chevy when there's an Aston Martin product or Maserati product in a similar price/performance range? Regardless of whether Honda's name is behind it, as pretentious as buyers in that segment can be and if the new TSX and RL are any indicators, I can't see many people swaying in Acura's favor. But I guess we shall see what happens.
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500 8:26PM (4/17/2008)
In the haze of nearly 20 years many of you may have forgetten that when the NSX first came out, it was generally seen, stylewise, as a Ferrari ripoff. Particularly from the front, where it strongly evokes the 348. Hardly an original example of "graceful Japanese design" evoking caligraphy, origami, or sand gardens.
Trent 11:40AM (4/17/2008)
C'mon, slap some headlights on that thing and send it into production! :D
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416Hammy 1:28PM (4/17/2008)
And bumpers, and doorhandles, and a production-feasible interior, and...........
[In other words, this is a "concept" car. That shouldn't be a new concept (pun intended) to you. It's not a production mock-up.]
Trent 4:01PM (4/17/2008)
Joke:
1. something said or done to provoke laughter or cause amusement, as a witticism, a short and amusing anecdote, or a prankish act: He tells very funny jokes. She played a joke on him.
Tsunami Racer 11:40AM (4/17/2008)
congrats honda on the decision to go RWD on multiple models!! you're only (look at watch) 25 years late!!
my high school calculus teacher used to say "better never than late..."
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psarhjinian 12:35PM (4/17/2008)
What we have to remember is that, despite some very good sales, Honda is a small company. Smaller than Nissan/Renault, FIAT, PSA or Mitsubishi. Much, much smaller than Ford, Toyota, Daimler, VW or GM.
They can't really afford to engineer more than a few platforms, and they really can't make them terribly different from each other. They're about the size of BMW, who also has a serious lack of diversity in their product line: all rear-drivers (excepting the Mini) with little base engineering differences. The difference is that Honda's cars are mostly front-drive (excepting the S2000) and are more mass-market (with the lower profit margins that entails).
It's the reason that Acura struggles as a marque of gussied-up Accords: Honda is not Toyota; they do not have the capital to engineer a speciality platform and move it in the volume necessary to offset the cost. What they do, they do very well, and criticising them for working within their financial limitations really isn't fair.
You may as well as BMW or Porsche (unless they buy VW) to sell a Civic-class car at a Civic price (and no, the 1-Series does not count; it's too small inside, to expensive to make and much too heavy). They're simply not set up to offer that breadth of product.
Tsunami Racer 1:09PM (4/17/2008)
oh trust me, having been on the inside for several years at the big H (not hyundai), i can tell you they have plenty of $$$ to develop a RWD sedan.
they were just arrogant about it because unlike a big marketing/sales based company like Toyota, Honda is an engineering/manufacturing driven company. if their engineers said, "no need for RWD V8, we can accomplish just as well with AWD and a 300HP V6", that's what they set out as a challenge. problem was, while the engineers were busy impressing themselves with variable timing-this and super handling-that, the market was calling for a RWD sedan with available V8.
if they can spend $$$ on developing a stupid "awesome-o" robot and even private jets, they've got money to make a RWD V8 sedan. it's not money they lack; it's sales and marketing driven savvy they're deficient on.
Evander O. 1:14PM (4/17/2008)
rwd? honda motorcycles since day 1!
Seoultrain 11:42AM (4/17/2008)
What happened to the HSC Concept? I loved that thing.
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SenSpeed 12:04PM (4/17/2008)
ferrari laughed at it for being on estrogen, game over.
John R 12:10PM (4/17/2008)
Who cares what ferrari thinks. I thought HSC was great, too. Definitely better than the thing picured above.
psarhjinian 12:39PM (4/17/2008)
Ferrari ought not to laugh.
The first NSX scared the bejeezus out of the Italians, and probably furrowed some brows as Porsche as well. It wasn't quite as extreme, but it cost a lot less and wasn't a complete maintenance princess. Remeber late 80s/early 90s Ferraris? Remember "Oil changes every 1000km, and even then you're spending more time in the shop than out". The NSX was a supercar that could be treated like an Accord, and it (as well as the Corvette) were serious game-changers.
I think people forget that the NSX was released in 1991. They're comparing it to models released in the last years of it's life, which isn't exactly fair. Honda's mistake was not (by choice or not) failing to keep the pressure on.
Leaf 1:41PM (4/17/2008)
I completely agree... that car was gorgeous. With the right underpinnings it would have made a perfect NSX successor.
Franz 11:43AM (4/17/2008)
I still wish it was gonna be mid engined. Oh, well...
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Nick 12:07PM (4/17/2008)
It can be front mid-engined
SenSpeed 11:44AM (4/17/2008)
all it needs now is Acura's ugly bucked teeth grill and its SH-"F"WD
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dreamtech 11:49AM (4/17/2008)
can`t wait to see this car...if it ever comes. Honda keeps promising and under delivering. The NSX will have a tough time to compete with the GT-R. Will this NSX have better performance than the GT-R and at what price? The RL is a luxury car joke. The TSX is from the Honda Brand. Only the TL manages to distinguish its itself as a nice design with Acura flavor...but with an Honda Accord platform!. What the hell is taking Honda so LONG to bring us a true luxury line up for Acura!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Who is running the show over there. Does anyone have a clue?
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