Honda's baby NSX takes shape

It’s a baby NSX. And that’s not just a nickname. This edgy coupe boasts similar proportions to Honda’s new flagship supercar, but it also incorporates technology from the four-wheel drive mid-engined, NSX making it a potential class-leader.

As we reported late last year, Honda’s engineers are evaluating the marketability of a third mid-engined coupe that would slot in between the NSX and the little 660cc turbocharged S660 mini-roadster, which will spawn a more powerful S1000 for export markets.

We revealed more technical details for what will be a spiritual successor to Honda's S2000 sports car in April and this image from Holiday Auto is a rendering of what the new coupe will look like based on the latest inside information.

The news is significant when you consider that Honda is already on a course to launch three all-new sports cars – S660/S1000, Civic Type-R and NSX -- in the space of 12 months (by mid-2016, although the new Type-R hot hatch may not arrive here until 2017), and is also expected to release a second-generation CR-Z by 2018.

An image uncovered by Dutch website Autovisie and attached to a recent patent registration by Honda also show the mid-size sportster will bear a familial resemblance to both the S660 and NSX.

So for Honda's product planners to consider an all-new mid-size two-seater coupe shows how serious they are about revitalising the company's sports car range, and indicates it could be developed as a direct rival for the Porsche Cayman and Alfa Romeo 4C.

A source close to Honda tells us that the Japanese car-maker has not only been debating the viability of a third mid-engined model for several years, but that the green light for development of the coupe has finally been given.

Unsurprisingly, the US — which will be its primary market — was the driving force behind the decision to develop the coupe. The fact that the NSX is being assembled in the US, where the baby NSX will also be built, had a lot to do with the decision too.

The problem, as far as US Honda dealers see it, is that the luxury Acura brand will get the NSX while they are left without a dedicated sports car. Sure, they will have a new Civic Type-R and CR-Z Type-R, but they are based on mass-production models, leaving Honda without a dedicated sports car in North America, where dealers see plenty of potential for something as sporty as an NSX, but smaller and cheaper.

With development underway, engineers are leaning towards a longitudinally mounted 2.0-litre turbocharged VTEC four-cylinder engine lifted from the Type-R but tuned to generate a beefier 243kW.

That’s still some 40kW down from the new 283kW Cayman GT4, but by utilising the full scope of Honda’s hybrid and AWD technologies, the baby NSX will arrive with class-leading performance and handling. Or at least that’s what our insider insists.

Given the movement towards creating sports cars with both performance and environmental credentials, the baby NSX will employ a revised version of the NSX’s sports hybrid SH-AWD (Super Handling AWD) system. That translates as a mid-size, mid-engined coupe with rear-wheel drive and two electric motors driving the front wheels through a nine-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.

With a hybrid powertrain that employs three motors altogether, the circa-1400kg baby NSX is expected to producing upwards of 294kW.

To deliver handling approaching the NSX, it will be based around a bespoke aluminium space frame wrapped in and aluminium and CFRP body panels to keep weight down. The special construction is another reason the baby NSX will be produced alongside its bigger brother at Honda’s Performance Manufacturing Center in Ohio.

With a target price of less than $100,000, the reimagined S2000 promises not only an outstanding power-to-weight ratio, but exceptional bang for your bucks.

Expected to make its world debut at the 2018 Detroit motor show, Honda's baby NSX should appear around the same time as Mazda's reinvented RX-7 rotary coupe and Toyota's born-again Supra, co-developed with BMW's Z4 replacement, marking a new dawn for Japan's revitalised sports car industry.

Image: Holiday Auto