Italdesign's Honda NSX coach build is a tribute to the original Japanese supercar
With Honda's blessing Italdesign is creating an ultra-limited tribute to the original NSX based on the bygone hybrid supercar
It’s fair to state that while an enjoyable, competent and well-engineered car, the second-generation Honda NSX didn’t make the impact or leave the indelible mark on the car enthusiast landscape that the original did. In fact all it really had in common with the original is that it didn’t sell all that well. Italdesign is about to give the recently-retired supercar a second wind however, with a new Honda-approved design homage to the original, clothing the bones of the controversial hybrid.
It’s a mix of both generations of NSX, blurring in style iconography of various versions of the original. That swooping wing and tail light at the rear reference all early NSXs while the roof scoop calls back to the mythical NSX-R GT. The standard second-gen NSX isn’t an unattractive car but there’s a clinical tone to it. This, on the other hand, oozes exoticism. It’s more tense, more muscular.
You can still tell what it’s based on – the interior, glasshouse, side intakes and front lights are giveaways – but in every other detail it’s just more special. Yet nothing is without purpose, with Italdesign assessing the aerodynamic and engineering implications of every change. The wheels are deliciously JDM – Advan items wrapped in Yokohama tyres.
The Italdesign NSX tribute is being conceived in celebration of a few milestones. The first, Honda’s first F1 victory, the 1965 Mexican Grand Prix. The second, the 1990 introduction of the original NSX. The third and perhaps most obscure, the NSX’s GT2 class victory at the 1995 Le Mans 24 Hours.
Italdesign does intend to produce the car, albeit in what it calls an ‘ultra-limited series’. This thing was never going to be cheap given the extent of the changes to be made but ultra rarity will only inflate that price. For reference, a similarly retro supercar coach build, the McLaren-based Lanzante 95-59, will number just 59.
Each car will be exclusively right-hand drive, with Italdesign offering an exclusive, hypercar-like journey from ideation and configuration to delivery.
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As a reminder, the second-generation NSX features a complex hybrid powertrain, incorporating a twin-turbocharged V6 engine and three electric motors, for a combined output of 573bhp and 476lb ft. It was an enormously ambitious project becoming a bit of a white elephant once the six-year wait for its arrival had come to an end – oddly Japanese, given it was an all-Acura, all-American development project.
We enjoyed the NSX, finding its complex constitution surprisingly engaging; its cohesive calibration impressed. But it was heavy and it lacked a little spark, not to mention a cabin befitting a £160,000+ supercar.
