Whatever this is, it’s good news for Honda fans
A successor to the Honda S2000 is long overdue, but do not despair: many signs point to the fact that Honda is working on one.
It may or may not be called S2000, as the automaker last year trademarked the ZSX name in Europe. However, it dropped rights to the label in 2012 in the United States, so the name remains a mystery for now.
Whatever it will be called, the upcoming Honda sports car will be truly special, as these spy shots prove. It looks too extreme to be a production car — most likely it's a design study that previews the model you'll be able to buy in the future.
Honda aficionados will clearly recognize the dramatic lines of this roadster because it shares a lot of design cues with patent images filed by the automaker for the upcoming "baby" NSX. The car caught on camera seems to speak the same styling language as the NSX, featuring a pointy nose and sharp creases. The rear exhaust treatment, however, reminds of the McLaren 650S.
The car was spotted in California, which is good news because Honda's U.S. subsidiary is a strong advocate of the sub-NSX project. The NSX itself is built in Ohio, and will reportedly donate some of the parts to its smaller sibling. That means the ZSX will most likely be made in North America as well.
Always in the rumor mill area, the ZSX/S2000 successor could be powered by a four-cylinder hybrid setup, possibly sourcing the Ohio-made turbocharged gasoline engine from the Civic Type R.
If everything goes well, expect a production model inspired by this beauty somewhere around 2020, badged as an Acura in North America and as a Honda in Europe and other markets.
Image credits: AUTOMEDIA