Acura's Supercar Returns
Acura NSX fans will never forget the month of December in 2005. The last NSX bound for the North American market was built then and enthusiasts have been mourning the loss of Honda's first supercar ever since. Well now they can stop mourning, because a new-generation NSX with a powerful hybrid powertrain is coming to the U.S.
Recently, Acura invited a select group of journalists out to its dealer meeting in Las Vegas for a taste of things to come. Along with the new ILX sedan and RDX crossover, we laid eyes on the shapely NSX concept on display at the 2012 Detroit show -- and, better yet, received word that it previews an actual production car that is expected to be built right here in the USA and should be here in three year's time.
That immense lull between NSX models wasn't exactly intentional. Honda had been working on crafting a flagship sports car for quite a while, but what once seemed like a clear-cut plan quickly became tumultuous.
True to its word, a concept foreshadowing such a vehicle emerged in early 2007. The Advanced Sports Car Concept, which debuted at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, was said to hint at a new premium sports car, but many enthusiasts had trouble calling it the NSX. The reluctance was understandable, as the formula Honda was pursuing was a far cry from what we'd seen before. The ASCC eschewed a V-6 for a ten-cylinder engine, and also adopted a front engine layout and an all-wheel-drive system.
Spy photographers subsequently caught prototypes testing on public roads, but the project wouldn't last for long. In 2008, an unstable automotive market and questionable global economic stability led Honda to reconsider its priorities -- not surprisingly, an expensive top-tier sports car wasn't exactly one of them. Although the development of a road car was canceled, the front-engine NSX project served as the basis of Honda's HSV-010 GT race car for the Japanese Super GT project.
Hope blossomed once again in early 2011, when Takanobu Ito, CEO of the Honda Motor Company and a former engineer on the original NSX project, confirmed his company was once again working on a new NSX.
This latest approach shares virtually nothing with the company's last stab at an NSX successor. Previous ideas, notably those that called for a ten-cylinder engine to be placed ahead of the passenger compartment, have been discarded in favor of an approach officials believe is much more in line with Acura's brand identity.
Subsequently, the NSX will utilize a form of the new hybrid Super Handling-AWD (SH-AWD) system. The V-6, likely a 3.5- or 3.7-liter, will drive the rear wheels by means of a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox. Unlike the current SH-AWD system, which would send power to the front wheels by way of a driveshaft and a mechanical differential, the NSX's front wheels will instead be powered by a pair of electric motors. As each motor is assigned to a wheel, the system has the ability to accelerate the outer wheel in a corner, creating a yaw moment that improves the car's ability to turn in and rotate. All told, the system could produce a net punch of about 400 hp.
Of course, packaging that sort of technology in a plain wrapper wouldn't suffice for a halo car. Love it or hate it, the new NSX's sheetmetal will certainly turn heads. Despite borrowing the Audi R8's general proportions and stance -- i.e. wide track, cabin pushed close to the front axle, etc. -- the car has a visual identity all its own.
Although Acura's only showing the car in coupe form at this point, there are rumblings of a convertible variant, fueled in part by the appearance of a similar-looking roadster on the set of the forthcoming Avengers super hero movie. If approved for production, expect that car to differ only in terms of its decklid, rear fenders, and side character line.
It's still unclear if the NSX will utilize its own architecture, or perhaps share its platform with another vehicle. It is, however, fairly certain to enter production. Officials tell us the development program is still in its infancy, but the car could enter series production as early as 2015.