Whereas the final Acura NSX has rolled off the meeting line, it received’t be relinquished to automotive historical past. The Japanese luxurious model will probably be working up a third-generation supercar, this one going all-electric, in accordance with model chief Jon Ikeda.
First launched in 1990, the NSX has served as a halo automotive for the Acura model, in its unique type exhibiting the potential of a light-weight aluminum physique earlier than being dropped after a 15-year run.
A second-generation NSX returned as a 2017 mannequin, this time Acura exhibiting the potential of a three-motor gas-electric hybrid able to launching from 0-60 in simply 2.9 seconds. When a 3rd model of the supercar makes its eventual return, Ikeda stated, it’s going to take a brand new flip.
“It’s going to be (all-)electrical,” Jon Ikeda, Vice President and Acura Model Officer of America Honda Motor Co., stated in an unique interview, highlighting Acura’s upcoming shift in powertrain expertise.
We’ll Must Wait at Least 4 Years
Like its mainstream dad or mum, Honda, the Acura model has been sluggish to embrace battery-electric propulsion, sticking with hybrid and plug-in hybrid techniques. However that’s about to alter.
The automaker unveiled the Precision Efficiency Idea on the Pebble Seashore Concours d’Magnificence earlier this month. Days later, it confirmed its first manufacturing battery-electric automobile will debut in 2024 below the ZDX badge.
Just like the Honda Prologue debuting the identical yr, the ZDX would be the results of a three way partnership with Common Motors, and based mostly on GM’s all-electric Ultium structure.
A house-grown platform, dubbed the e:Structure, will probably be shared by each the Honda and Acura manufacturers — although it’s not anticipated to succeed in manufacturing till 2026. It can underpin plenty of future battery-electric automobiles, together with the third-generation NSX.
And which means at the very least a four-year hole earlier than the supercar would return to manufacturing. Nevertheless, one well-placed insider recommended the subsequent NSX may very well be one of many first — if not the very first — Acura based mostly on the e:Structure.
Offering a Halo
That will match its function as a halo nameplate and supply a transparent indication of what the brand new battery-car platform is technically able to.
Battery propulsion techniques are, by nature, able to delivering some spectacular efficiency, stated Ikeda, as electrical motors ship most torque the second they begin spinning.
And plenty of automakers are placing that to good use. Even mainstream fashions just like the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV6, and Volkswagen ID.4 can ship sports activities car-level 0-60 occasions, relying upon their configuration.
Excessive machines, such because the Tesla Mannequin S Plaid and Lucid Air Dream Efficiency version, are matching a number of the quickest launches ever, at barely 2 seconds. And Croatia’s Rimac is hinting at a brand new mannequin that might lower even that point in half.
Extra Than Simply 0-60 Instances
However there’s a giant distinction between “straight-line efficiency” and the form of street dynamics that outline a real supercar,” stated Ikeda. “We’ve by no means been nearly 0-60 occasions,” and so, identical to the second-generation mannequin, a battery-electric NSX will put a premium on “fun-to-drive components,” notably steering and dealing with.
That means the automaker will provide you with a brand new model of its torque-vectoring Tremendous-Dealing with All-Wheel-Drive, or SH-AWD, expertise.
Whereas Ikeda left open a slight risk that dad or mum Honda would possibly determine to not convey again the NSX, Stephanie Brinley, the principal auto analyst with IHS Markit, sees a brand new model of the supercar as a necessity.
“It might be good for Acura” to provide you with an all-electric mannequin that backs up the “Precision Crafted storyline” the model is utilizing to explain its new, extra sporty path.
NSX EV: Acura’s Future
And regardless that typical passenger automobiles could have misplaced important momentum in recent times, because the U.S. market shifts to SUVs and CUVs, “folks nonetheless need sports activities automobiles,” Brinley stated.
As with the primary two variations of the NSX, Ikeda recommended that the subsequent NSX received’t essentially stick round indefinitely.
“The NSX is just not like a (Porsche) 911, the place you construct a unbroken sequence. It’s an innovation platform” that, in all-electric type, will stick round lengthy sufficient to provide Acura an opportunity “to speak about our future.”
