Acura NSX to Arrive in 2010

Anthony Fontanelle
December 19, 2007

The next generation Acura NSX will arrive later than expected, an American Honda Motor Co. executive said last Monday.

“We are developing it without any delay, so most probably we will have it in the period we already promised,” says American Honda President and CEO Tetsuo Iwamura adding that means the car will arrive in 2010. The 2010 deadline is a little later than what Honda Motor Co. Ltd. CEO Takeo Fukui had set to be next year or in 2009.

“We are now focused on the development of a new model to succeed the NSX for a new era,” Fukui said in a July 2005 speech. “We would like to debut a new super sports car equipped with a V-10 engine in three to four years.”

Last January, in the North American International Auto Show (Detroit Auto Show), Honda’s luxury brand which is also the producer of premium Acura Cl axle assembly unveiled the Acura Advanced Sports Car concept. The Japanese automaker said that the concept car is a hint to the upcoming Acura NSX. At the event, Fukui announced that the production version of the Acura Advanced Sports Car concept will be launched in October at the Tokyo Motor Show. But according to media tales, Honda was not satisfied with the feedbacks received by their Detroit Concept car and the automaker returned the vehicle to its drawing board.

Last August, American Honda Vice-President John Mendel also announced that another version of the concept car will debut in Tokyo, same as the statement of Fukui. However, October came kicking-off the Tokyo Motor Show, and neither concept and production versions of the Advanced Sports Car was launched.

Earlier this summer, Honda also made announcements that Acura brand’s Japan launching will be also be in a halt for at least two years due to unstable market conditions. And with the publicities made by the automaker, the auto industry especially the analysts are expecting that the NSX will bow in time with Acura’s brand launch in Japan next year.

Based from Iwamura’s statement, the NSX may arrive earlier in the U.S. than in Japan. “In case of the introduction order, at this moment I can’t tell,” he says. “But the U.S., you know, has a majority of the Acura customers – that is something you have to think about.”

In an interview with Ward’s autos, Iwamura was asked if the new Acura NSX will bear the Acura badge in its domestic market for the first time, he answered saying, “I can’t comment, but the NSX is a car for Acura, especially in the United States.”

“Frankly speaking, we are struggling a bit,” Iwamura says, noting model-launch cadence has been problematic, as Honda’s near-luxury brand had no new vehicle introductions in 2007.

“We have to arrange a bit more wisely the timing and how we introduce new models,” he says.

Source:  Amazines.com