As mentioned earlier, the NSX replacement, initially set for launch in 2010 has been cancelled by Honda. Motorheads around the world, including yours truly, didn't react very well to that news. But it is not difficult to understand Honda's justification. Japanese automakers are seeing worst plunge in auto sales since the post-war era while financial houses and even countries (Iceland, once a financial services powerhouse is now technically bankrupt) around the world are falling over like a deck of cards. For a mass-market manufacturer like Honda to continue pouring money on an ostentious V10 supercar project like this is just plain reckless.The plain hard truth is that now is not the time to discuss about products with high emotional appeal for brand building but to shore up resources and brace for the worst decade in the car business.With no replacement in sight for the NSX, this could play into the hands of existing NSX owners. We could be seeing the making of a modern classic, whose value may appreciate in the future. But this is difficult to predict as the classic car market have not been very warm towards Japanese classics - case in point are 1970 Nissan 240Z (the original Nissan "Z" car), 1967 Toyota 2000GT (Japan's translation for a Jaguar E-Type) which was even featured in James Bond's You Only Lived Twice. Great Japanese cars from the 60s, but not appreciated as much as European classics at the concours shows / auctions.NSX - rumoured to be short for "New Sports-car eXperimental." I love it for its slightly maverick reputation because it thumbed its nose against the Italians and Germans who thought they knew everything about building a supercar. NSX came out at a time when the Americans were blaming higher quality Japanese imports for the slump in the American car industry. The Europeans, have difficulty accepting that the Japanese can build a car that starts up without fail on every cold morning, with doors that are aligned properly. The Italians and the Germans continue to believe in their superiority in the power and speed game.
NSX debut in USA as the Acura NSX in the 1989 Chicago Auto Show.
When the NSX was launched in 1989, overnight it made a Ferrari 348 looked like an exercise for the mascohistic male who relishes a torturing drive. It made the widow-maker Porsche 911 looked like a car for those who loved to play a suicidal game of "who gets wrapped round a tree next by an engine at the wrong place" game.
“I think the company wanted a car that could bridge its mass production FF models and F-1 cars. They needed a car that would become the new face of Honda. Plus, we’d been contacted several times by those who were planning the Acura Division at American Honda concerning similar requests.”- Shigeru Uehara, NSX LPL (Large Project Leader, Honda's lingo for chief engineer). Uehara-san is also the father of S2000 roadster.The NSX is docile enough to be driven by a grandmother, yet have enough muscle in reserve to be called up for when needed. It makes you wonder why must all other supercars look nice but must be such a pain to drive? And best still, none of the other competing Italian and German rivals can boast of having their supercar developed by a F1 world champion; the late Aryton Senna honed the NSX to perfection. It would be almost 2 decades later before Michael Schumacher developed the F430 and Enzo for Ferrari.Even Gordon Murray, creator of the McLaren F1 liked the NSX so much that he bought one for himself and even used it as a benchmark in designing the Mclaren F1. It is safe to assume that had it not for the NSX, supercars breed would not have improved to today's standards.