One swallow doesn’t make a spring, or something. In Honda’s case, in getting back around to making a range of exciting performance cars that helped develop so much of the goodwill towards the company and its reputation in the first place, spring has already sprung, and is giving way to a glorious summer.
Exhibit D is at the Tokyo motor show: the Sports EV concept car, which previews a pretty little electric sports car due in production by the end of the decade. Lovely looking, isn’t it?
It follows on from exhibits A, B and C: first, Honda gave us the S660 kei car, a mid-engined, rear-wheel drive micro sports car for the Japanese market. Take my word for it that it’s as much fun as you’ll ever have with only 63bhp under your right foot, and that the world is a better place with it in it than not.
But that’s only available in Japan, and therefore hardly compelling evidence for a Honda performance car comeback.
Step forward exhibit B, the Honda NSX. It might not be the best junior supercar in the world, but it’s not far away. Some achievement, when you consider the complexity of the hybrid technology that powers it. And it exists: Honda will sell you a supercar once more. That’s a lovely thing to be able to write.
While the NSX might not be a world leader, the new Civic Type R certainly is – it is the world’s best hot hatch, and today we publish its Autocar road test, complete with a four-and-a-half star rating and class honours, only two months after it swept all before it at our annual Britain’s Best Affordable Driver’s Car contest.
Honda is a on a roll. And now, as it commits to launching a range of electric cars, it appears that line-up will include a performance model, one as good looking as the Sports EV concept. Recent evidence suggests we should be very excited about the way it’s likely to drive too.
Yep, Honda is back. Now, where’s that S2000 replacement?
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Still not convinced
We've been hearing this for years, and I'm still not fully convinced. In the late '80s and through the '90s, even the early 2000s, Honda didn't just make great performance cars. That DNA also filtered through to their mainstream models. Sure they've given us some nice sports cars (S660, CTR, and NSX), but when will that filter through to the rest of the range? Everything else, while good, leaves the enthusiast wanting.