Remember how long it took Honda to come up with an all-new NSX? And how the Ford Motor Company upstaged the Japanese automaker at the 2015 Detroit Motor Show? Adding insult to injury, the newcomer is extremely different in concept from the original, employing hybrid technology and all-wheel-drive instead of a well-sorted chassis fine-tuned with the help of none other than Formula 1 legend Ayrton Senna.
Though it may come as an underwhelming car in this context, the NSX is a marvel of engineering and properly quick in a straight line and the twisties. On the other hand, fans of the NSX and people who can afford to spend top dollar ($157,800) on the NSX hope that Honda will make amends with the introduction of the Type R.
Never confirmed by the automaker or the Acura brand, the NSX Type R could be in the pipeline for the 2020 model year. Japanese publication Spyder7.com quotes 650 horsepower (641 brake horsepower), and an estimated price tag of 35 million yen.
Vice-president and general manager of Acura in the United States, Jon Ikeda, made an interesting comment on the amped-up NSX during the 2018 Detroit Motor Show. When quizzed by the motoring media about the Type R, Ikeda replied with a cryptic “anything can happen.”
The lighter, more powerful variant is rumored to be joined by the NSX Roadster later this year according to Auto Bild, and further down the line, Autocar suggests that an EV could happen. The question is, does Honda (and Acura) see benefit in spinning the NSX off into so many variants, especially from a financial standpoint?
Only time will tell, but there are two clues about what’s waiting for the NSX in the coming years. For starters, a handful of prototypes were spotted at the Nurburgring undergoing development in August 2017, both cars sporting some kind of special sensors (pictured).
Then there’s a design patent for an air dam, which Honda filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in late 2017. What’s so special about the patent is the vehicle used to illustrate the aerodynamic add-on, namely the NSX.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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