FRANKFURT MOTOR SHOW: Brits spring NSX news

Honda has restarted development on a replacement for the NSX. That's the news from Germany on the eve of the Frankfurt Motor Show.

British weekly magazine Autocar says Honda president and CEO Takanobu Ito "sensationally revealed" the news in Frankfurt just hours ago. The magazine says the new car will be "radically different" from the original NSX and will pursue a route of "dramatic power-to-weight-ratio" rather than outright horsepower.

Ito told Autocar: "I spent part of my early career at Honda developing the NSX, and specifically the aluminium body... I really enjoyed that experience, and learned much, so it is my wish that Honda engineers have the experience of developing a sports car like the NSX in future. Within Honda, our engineers are already looking at developing such a car."

Ito offered little more in details but made it clear the nuovo-NSX would be a very different vehicle to its predecessor.

"You can't depend on a high power output to call a car sporty anymore," Ito told Autocar.

"The original NSX was about high power but also good driving performance, and today power-to-weight is what we have to focus on. The NSX was known for its aluminium body, so when we develop our new sports car we don't want to copy Ferrari for power, but to also chase efficiency as well."

Honda's CR-Z hybrid sporty is set to inject some drama and panache into the brand's increasingly staid line-up. And is a taste of more interesting vehicles to come, if Ito's remarks to the Brit weekly are anything to go by.

"Our recent efforts have been focused on fuel efficiency, and that perhaps gives the impression Honda is behind with pushing the brand image of sportiness, but let me assure you that is not the case. We will address that impression with our new generations of cars," Ito said.