Honda confirms NSX, again, again

The original Acura NSX was an enthusiast's dream car come true. It had supercar looks, a lightweight aluminum chassis and a big chunk of Honda engineering soul. Unfortunately, the original NSX went through life without many adjustments, and Honda's supercar dream died quietly in 2005.

To be more accurate, the dream may only have been deferred, since Honda announced in 2008 that a next-generation NSX would arrive with a pavement-punishing V10 nestled under the hood of a far more contemporary shape. But just as we started to get our hopes up, the market for new premium sports coupes collapsed, and the NSX was shelved when it was reportedly very close to production-ready.

Rumors have persisted that the NSX was still under consideration for future production, and Autocar now claims that Honda President and CEO Takanobu Ito confirmed the speculation. Ito reportedly pointed out that the forthcoming NSX would focus on power-to-weight performance, adding "we don't want to copy Ferrari for power, but to also chase efficiency as well."

If a new NSX does see the light of day, we're guessing Honda would need to improve upon the original's 290 horsepower, but a 500-horsepower V10 is probably out of the picture, as are looks like the 2007 Acura Advanced Sports Car Concept shown here. Assuming that's the case, we'd happily take a lower sticker price and curb weight in exchange.