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Founded in 1946 and incorporated in 1948, the Minato-based automaker known as Honda introduced the S2000 as the SSM design study in 1995. A near-production concept was revealed in 1998, and the real thing would enter production the following year.
As per Tom Gardner, the senior vice president of Honda Motor Europe, the Japanese automaker celebrated its 50th anniversary by confirming the S2k. A quarter of a century later, a design study of a sports car is mooted to premiere in 2023.
Gardner also let it slip to British publication Autocar that Honda needs time to decide whether such a vehicle is feasible or not. As you're well aware, bean counters have the power to nip this project in the bud. With sports car sales dropping year after year, it will be a hard case to make. With a bit of luck, the salespeople may convince the bean counters that a rear-driven sports car isn't only about sales but about bolstering the Japanese automaker's image globally.
Honda's only true sports car as of May 2023 is the Civic Type R, which is a front-wheel-drive hatchback based on a five-door model that you can rent on the cheap throughout the United States. The NSX failed to live up to the halo status that was expected of it, and the aforementioned lightweight version of the Civic Type R is no halo either. Honda, which is getting a lot of reproval for partnering up with General Motors for its next-gen EVs, desperately needs a true halo car. S2000 Take Two: Electric Boogaloo might be it.
Emphasis on Electric Boogaloo. As you might be aware of already, Honda intends to launch a whopping 30 electric vehicles globally by the end of this decade. An electric successor of the NSX has already been confirmed, along with a zero-emission gran turismo.
There is a high possibility for Honda to slip an electric S2000 into this all-electric roadmap. Alternatively, the Japanese automaker could surprise us with its final internal combustion-engined RWD sports car. We've been hearing that a Civic Type R 2.0-liter turbo-powered S2000 might happen for a few years now. Even though we'd miss the high-revving engine of the first-generation S2000, try and look at the glass half full: it'd be infinitely better than no S2k at all.
Speaking of the original from 1999, a little over 110,000 units were produced in two distinct flavors. The pre-facelift AP1 features the 9,000-rpm F20C engine, whereas the North American-spec AP2 came solely with the F22C1. While it may not rev as high as the smaller engine, the 2.2-liter I4 does make a little more torque. The S2000 was discontinued over a worsening economy, both at home in Japan and outside of it. It all came crashing down after the financial crisis hit everyone hard in 2007. The final example of the breed rolled off the assembly line in Takanezawa on August 19, 2009.
Gardner also let it slip to British publication Autocar that Honda needs time to decide whether such a vehicle is feasible or not. As you're well aware, bean counters have the power to nip this project in the bud. With sports car sales dropping year after year, it will be a hard case to make. With a bit of luck, the salespeople may convince the bean counters that a rear-driven sports car isn't only about sales but about bolstering the Japanese automaker's image globally.
Honda's only true sports car as of May 2023 is the Civic Type R, which is a front-wheel-drive hatchback based on a five-door model that you can rent on the cheap throughout the United States. The NSX failed to live up to the halo status that was expected of it, and the aforementioned lightweight version of the Civic Type R is no halo either. Honda, which is getting a lot of reproval for partnering up with General Motors for its next-gen EVs, desperately needs a true halo car. S2000 Take Two: Electric Boogaloo might be it.
Emphasis on Electric Boogaloo. As you might be aware of already, Honda intends to launch a whopping 30 electric vehicles globally by the end of this decade. An electric successor of the NSX has already been confirmed, along with a zero-emission gran turismo.
There is a high possibility for Honda to slip an electric S2000 into this all-electric roadmap. Alternatively, the Japanese automaker could surprise us with its final internal combustion-engined RWD sports car. We've been hearing that a Civic Type R 2.0-liter turbo-powered S2000 might happen for a few years now. Even though we'd miss the high-revving engine of the first-generation S2000, try and look at the glass half full: it'd be infinitely better than no S2k at all.
Speaking of the original from 1999, a little over 110,000 units were produced in two distinct flavors. The pre-facelift AP1 features the 9,000-rpm F20C engine, whereas the North American-spec AP2 came solely with the F22C1. While it may not rev as high as the smaller engine, the 2.2-liter I4 does make a little more torque. The S2000 was discontinued over a worsening economy, both at home in Japan and outside of it. It all came crashing down after the financial crisis hit everyone hard in 2007. The final example of the breed rolled off the assembly line in Takanezawa on August 19, 2009.
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