- ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

- ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Updated: Honda’s replacement for the NSX is still more than two years away but a number of key details about the car have been revealed by an inside source at Honda. According to the insider, the styling of the new car will be very similar to the - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER from last year’s Detroit Auto Show and its future price tag will be around the $160,000 mark.

The car’s lines will favor efficiency over style, with much of the design derived from Honda’s F1 program. According to - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER, a prototype set a blistering Nurburgring lap time of 7m 37s on its first attempt and the final number should easily slip below 7m 30s and into - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER and - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER territory.

The key to its performance is high-speed stability. The rear section of the car supposedly acts as a giant rear diffuser, designed to keep the 1,476kg (3,256lb) supercar glued to the road. The other factor in the performance equation is the car’s 5.5L V10 Engine, which the insider revealed would output upwards of 600hp (450kW) and 433lb-ft (586Nm) of torque. When not at its peak, the engine will be able to deactivate half of its cylinders to save fuel and lower emissions. Drive will be sent to an uprated Super-Handling AWD system via a new six-speed dual-clutch transmission.

Original: Honda’s NSX replacement has had several - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER, with the company - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER – the Acura Advanced Sports Car Concept - after the public’s largely negative response to the 2007 Detroit show car. Designers were sent back to the drawing board and Honda was forced to abandon its original plans to show the car at the following Tokyo Motor Show.

Despite the drawbacks, engineers were able to continue testing the new mechanicals for the car by using a modified S2000 body and we saw the first test-mules running laps at the Nurburgring by the middle of last year. The latest round of spy shots suggest Honda has come up with a final design for the car, as seen by this latest prototype once again spotted at the Nurburgring in Germany that’s very likely to be the replacement for the legendary Honda supercar.

Speaking with - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER back in April, Acura spokesman Mike Spencer confirmed several details of the upcoming NSX replacement. The car will definitely be powered by a V10 engine, and it will be equipped with the company’s SH-AWD system. The lack of intakes at the rear of the car also confirms the NSX replacement will feature a front-engine configuration, as opposed to the mid-engine layout of the former.

There has been some discussion of a possible four-wheel steering system (4WS) for the NSX replacement, but Spencer suggested the SH-AWD system would achieve most of the benefits of 4WS without the added complexity.

The NSX replacement is now expected to arrive sometime in 2010 as a 2011 model with final pricing expected to be revealed closer to the car’s release date.

Honda (Acura) NSX replacement rendering

- ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Honda aims to reassert itself as a manufacturer of genuine supercars with the next-generation NSX. It's been a long time coming; the original NSX went on sale in 1990 and continued little altered until its demise in 2005. Honda's not taking any chances with its successor: this prototype packs a V10 engine and everything Honda knows about engineering excellence.

Our latest spy photos and exclusive video were shot during recent tests at the Nurburgring in Germany where engineers are conducting high-speed testing while they fettle the aero and chassis. Those Offenbach registration plates betraying Honda's European engineering base are one sign this is the NSX – and Honda officials now openly admit this is indeed the new NSX .

Honda NSX: what we can expect
Detail remains scant on the NSX project. Honda showed the Acura Advanced Sports Car concept styled by its US design wing at the 2007 Detroit auto show, but that car's GT pretensions and styling received a lukewarm reception.

Word is that Honda sent the project back to the drawing board. This prototype is the best indication yet of how the new NSX will be positioned and it does look significantly evolved from the ASC show car.

Don't forget a car company will typically let all its global design studios have input into a project of this scale, so it's only natural the design will chop and change. The ASC was just one vision of what the 21st century NSX could be.

Why the new NSX will have a V10
Honda's new supercar will be front-engined and Honda CEO and president Takeo Fukui is on record as saying the car will be powered by a V10.

'This car will feature advanced technology and match my passion for performance,’ he said. ‘This will include an all-new V10 engine, Acura’s most powerful ever.’ That points to a dizzy power output of somewhere between 400 and 500bhp – and you can hear it in furious action in our spy video below.

An Acura? That's interesting...

Only to badge snobs. The 2007 concept was badged as an Acura, unsurprisingly since the NSX sold in greatest numbers in the US. We wouldn't be surprised if the next Honda supercar was badged as a Honda and Acura depending on market (there are no plans to introduce Honda's upscale Acura brand in Europe). That's what Honda did last time round.

We should point out that we don't know at this stage if this car will even be badged NSX. But it will certainly continue where the NSX finished off: a cutting-edge sports car without any of the irritable manners of an Italian thoroughbred.


Full Article:

- ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

M

- ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER



The last NSX, discontinued in 2005, was branded as both a Honda and an Acura, depending upon the market it was sold in. That could change for the - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER, however, as Acura may be seeking to protect the brand identity of the halo sports car, and thereby its ability to charge a premium price. An unfortunate side effect for much of the world, however, is that the car would not be sold in markets where Acura doesn't do business.

Currently, the U.S., Canada, Hong Kong, Mexico, China and soon, Russia, are the only markets that get Acura-branded cars. The company is planning on introducing the brand to Japan in 2010 or after, and the use of the NSX as a halo vehicle to lure buyers and establish its credibility as a real step up from Honda may be exactly what it needs.

But that will still leave the majority of the world, including Australia, the UK, and all of the countries in Europe, without Acura or the NSX, according to latest reports. Speaking with - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER, Honda spokesman Fumihiko Ike ruled out bringing Acura to Australia, and along the way, he mentioned that the NSX would not be coming either, declaring that the two are inextricably linked.

“Internally we are trying to harmonize the policy because NSX is exclusively for Acura brand. But now we are not bringing Acura brand to Asia, maybe very strong resistance from U.S. people that we put the [Honda badge] on the NSX, that is going to dilute the image of Acura, so that is a big dilemma for us,” Ike said.

“We initiated the Acura brand for the sake of the U.S. market and how to rebuild the Acura brand in the U.S. that is our priority, so maybe we have to sacrifice (NSX availability in other markets) but we have to be patient,” he added.

Keeping the NSX out of so many markets may be the best thing for U.S. perception of the Acura brand, but the impact it could have on the NSX itself, not being available in the home of so many of the world's greatest sports cars - Europe - is a significant consideration - especially when the company is - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER. Perhaps that is what Ike was speaking of when he mentioned patience, though only time will tell what strategy Honda adopts for its newest NSX, and the wait will likely require a great deal of patience, since the car isn't expected to arrive until 2010.

The NSX has already had a very troubled birthing process, as designers deliberated over the car's appearance, which was at first expected to closely follow the - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER, eventually - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER and starting over part way through - though the spy shots and renderings indicate it won't stray far from the concept's lines. Brand issues - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER the year before, but now that several prototypes have been spotted testing on the Nurburgring, it is believed that final development is underway, and on schedule to meet the 2010 deadline.


Source: - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Oh..the troubles of synthetic branding.

M

Have they officially ruled out the possibility to introduce Acura in Europe?

- ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER



Honda is pulling out all the stops for its replacement for the Acura NSX supercar, confirming it will be powered by a new V10 engine and boasting that it will be faster than Nissan’s GT-R. Expected to be sold exclusively under the Acura brand, the new model is scheduled to arrive in 2010 for the 2011 model year and availability is expected to be scarce.

Acura is determined that its new NSX is will be truly “extreme” and that its image must be one of high-performance and luxury. Integral in this approach is the NSX's V10 engine, which some Acura staff questioned as being unnecessary, the company’s executive vice president Koichi Kondo revealed during a recent interview with Automotive News.

Kondo also told reporters that the car will be priced higher than the Nissan GT-R but it will have better performance. The new NSX will also be a low volume model, with expected sales of just 1,000 units a year in the U.S. market.

In an earlier interview, Honda was adamant that the NSX would - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER in order to prevent diluting the car’s high-performance, luxury image. This includes the U.S., Canada, Hong Kong, Mexico, China and soon, Russia, however leaves out other major markets such as Australia, the UK, and most other European countries.

Looks like the next the integra to me. And if it is not mid engined, please don't call it NSX.

Hmmm...

Not bad if thats really it.

M

The engine looks fantastic, the styling is a missed opportunity, it looks quite ordinary.