Honda cancels development of V10-powered NSX successor

Amid the announcement of its third profit warning of the year, Honda has confirmed that it has canceled plans for the launch of a successor to the NSX supercar. The new V10-powered model was expected to arrive in the United States next year as an Acura, but sadly all development work on the car has come to an end. Honda CEO Takeo Fukui confirmed the plan in his end of year speech, saying that all development of the car would cease. Fukui also revealed that plans to introduce the Acura brand to Japan in 2010 have all been canned, reports Automotive News.

 

Canning the NSX? Honda should be ashamed

Is Honda's decision to can the next NSX motivated by prudence or myopia? As a fan of the original I bow to no-one, so perhaps my vision is more rose-tinted than it should be, but I incline strongly towards the latter view. The NSX is the car that changed the supercar landscape. It might not have sold very well over here (even though it did succeed elsewhere and in the US particularly), but the value of such cars can never be counted in sales figures alone. It became the supercar benchmark: when Gordon Murray was designing the McLaren F1, he didn't look at Ferraris and Lamborghinis, he looked at – then drove, then bought – an NSX, which he then kept as his everyday car for years. Read more about what made the original NSX so great Before the NSX, Ferrari's staple was the fairly awful 348, which transformed soon afterwards into the really rather wonderful F355, and I have no doubt which car gave Maranello the kick up the backside that it sorely needed. No one will ever be able to calculate how much kudos the NSX rained down on Honda's head as a company of outstanding innovation and engineering excellence any more than we'll ever know how much damage will now be done to that reputation now that its replacement has been killed. But the bit I really don't get is why it's been axed. Clearly the market is in terrible trouble at the moment, but it will recover as it always has, and when it does the cars that enthusiasts with money will want to buy will be lightweight, ultra-efficient and usable every day. These are precisely the values upon which the NSX set out its stall when it was first shown almost exactly 20 years ago. If it was a three-tonne SUV Honda was culling I'd understand in an instant, but the very fact that Honda kept the old car in production for 15 years – for much of it as a loss-leader – showed how important the light it cast was to the brand. But today the values upon which the NSX was conceived have been tossed aside in pursuit of what Honda's boss describes as 'achieving mass-market penetration as soon as possible…' It's an attitude I'd expect from many faceless corporations, but from a company that built a proud and wholly deserved reputation through pure engineering integrity, it makes me shudder.

 

Honda testing 49' Asimo for Rose Bowl

Honda might be killing off the NSX and pulling its factory support out of various two- and four-wheeled racing events along with its long-running Honda Hoot gathering, but the automaker has managed to find the resources to invest in a five-story top hat-wearing Asimo float to lead the Rose Parade on January 1. In addition to the towering presence of Asimo, a hydrogen-powered FCX Clarity will pace the event, which moves pretty slow and therefore probably doesn't really need a pace car at all. No matter, this spectacle will be witnessed by millions of people tuning in to watch the 120th Tournament of Roses and the event will celebrate Honda's 50th year in the United States. In addition to the giant Asimo robot and FCX Clarity, which will be accompanied by a Super Cub motorcycle, Honda will be providing 166 Metropolitan scooters and 12 generators to power the event. As you may have guessed, Honda is a major sponsor to the Tournament of Roses and is hoping to win another major award, as it's done in 13 of the last 14 years. Gallery: Honda Asimo parade float

 

2009 Acura TL Review

The Acura TL is like the brainy girl in math class. If you'd told your friends you had the hots for her, they'd have stifled laughs, paused and said "who?" Since the turn of the century, the Accord-based Acura TL has been the deeply sensible alternative to premium-priced imports. But the TL's fans knew the joys of stealth smarts: a super-smooth six powering a superbly-crafted cabin sitting atop a well-built and reliable chassis. So, will channeling the spirit of Frank Lloyd Wright help or hinder the TL's ongoing quest for luxury car legitimacy?

 

2008 Acura CSX Navi Premium Review

Evaluating the Canadian-designed, built and sold Acura CSX without mentioning the Honda Civic is no easy task. (See?) Comparisons are so tempting, namely because the latter is an excellent car in its own right. The feeling's mutual. Honda of Japan loved the Acura CSX so much that it served as a template for the JDM Civic. And why not? The CSX delivers an excellent compact luxury package without the reliability issues bedeviling certain (cough German cough) imports. Said otherwise, the CSX is the penny-pinching—I mean, thinking man's luxury compact.

 

2009 Acura TSX Review

You may not know this, but Acura has only two executives. One of them oversees the design and build of fantastic, fun, reliable, affordable cars. This suit was responsible for all the Integras, the NSX, the Legend and the original TSX. The other executive has the reverse Midas touch. He botched the RSX, let the NSX stagnate for a decade, and shot the Legend in the head and gave us the RL. And now, that sonofabitch got his hands on the new TSX. To say the result is disappointing is to say that gas is becoming a bit dear. Advance? I don't think so.

 

Third Generation Acura Integra Review

Most people drive the Acura Integra like they stole it. Mostly, it's because they have. Or, more accurately, someone else did. Model years '94 to '01 regularly grace the zenith of the annual top ten most stolen automobiles. Moral outrage aside, the Integra's tendency to disappear is entirely understandable. It's a cheap, fast, infinitely modifiable and reliable automobile that appeals to teenage boys, college students, financially-strapped pistonheads, rice rocketeers and thrifty professionals looking for a set of hot wheels (so to speak).