Details of reborn Honda S2000 revealed

New details have emerged about how Honda plans to replace its S2000.

Originally, the resurrected roadster was supposed to be introduced to help the Japanese car maker celebrate its 70th anniversary. But now, according to Car and Driver, the pressure to bring back the S2000 is coming from its own US operation.

Honda USA is lobbying the Japanese car maker to introduce a sports car following Honda's decision not to export the S660 from Japan.

Since the recently-launched NSX is badged an Acura, Honda USA is demanding a halo car that will be embraced by enthusiasts.

Speaking to the US car mag, an insider who's claimed to be working closely with Honda says the reborn S2000 will now arrive in 2018.

Originally, the small two-seat roadster was supposed to adopt the 230kW/400Nm 2.0-litre VTEC engine that powers the Civic Type-R but now that plan has been scrapped.

Instead, the Honda mole says the S2000 will be new from the ground up and will come equipped with an advanced 2.0-litre VTEC engine that features both a conventional turbo and a new electric-driven supercharger.

The result is an engine that will produce around 240kW but suffer no lag and have similar throttle response to a normally aspirated engine.

Fuel economy and emissions will also be considerably lower.

According to the insider the new engine has been green lit because there was a desire, within Honda, "to drive things forward".

"Sure the Type-R 2.0-litre turbo is a great engine", said the source, "but by 2018 that would be old news"

"As a celebratory model the sports car must be special. It must have a new powertrain and a unique chassis".

Set to be based on a rear-wheel drive platform, the next S2000 will come with an ideal 50:50 weight distribution.

That’s because engineers have developed an all-new eight-speed dual-clutch transmission that’s packaged in a rear transaxle.

There's no mention whether Honda will persevere with a traditional six-speed manual transmission.

On sale next year, a near production-ready S2000 concept is expected at either the Paris motor show in September or the LA auto show in November.

Pricing is likely to begin at around US$50,000 (AUD$65,000), says Car and Driver.

Since the US market will have a strong influence in the next S2000, it’s thought that the small two-seat Porsche Boxster rival will be mainly developed at Honda's Ohio R&D base.

That means it will be created by the same team of engineers behind the new NSX supercar.