New Honda NSX - Hybrid Supercar

Honda's NSX returns - as a Hybrid

The Honda NSX gained almost mythical status as the supercar you could drive every day. None of that flimsy, highly strung nonsense that comes as standard with an Italian supercar, the handling characteristics were finely honed by Ayrton Senna himself. Well now it's set to make a spectacular return, within three years of the unveiling of an Acura-badged concept at the 2012 Detroit motor show.

Innovative new features such as its all-wheel drive system, which Honda calls it's Sport Hybrid SH-AWD (Super Handling All Wheel Drive), and Honda claims it will deliver handling performance “unmatched by any previous AWD system”.

With an electric motors driving the front wheels and a bilateral torque-adjustable control system to generate positive or negative torque to the front wheels during cornering, combined with an 'all-new' direct-injection VTEC V6, linked to a dual-clutch transmission with a built-in electric motor, driving the rear wheels, this, Honda says creates “supercar acceleration while offering outstanding efficiency”.

Honda Motor Co. CEO Takanobu Ito says the future supercar’s all-wheel drive system will make it 'the ultimate expression of synergy between man and machine'. “The NSX will make the driver one with the car to enhance dynamic driving abilities without getting in the way.”

Ito said Honda’s engineers were targeting “high performance through engineering efficiency”, just as the developers of the original car did 25 years ago, although with a renewed sense of the environmental challenges that abound.

“In this new era, even as we focus on the fun to drive spirit of the NSX, I think a supercar must respond positively to environmental responsibilities.”

The all-new Honda NSX will be developed by Honda R&D Americas and manufactured in Ohio, with production set to begin before 2015.