Takanobu Ito confirms he was responsible for V8 RWD Platform & V10 NSX cancellation!

[Levi]

German cars are highly overrated. Only Mercedes is going back o building cars like they did before.

[n2oinferno]

Originally Posted by reni

Killing the V8 sort of makes sense. Even without the financial crisis it would have sold relatively few cars for the amount of development resources spent. But not the NSX if it was that close to production... they need at least one halo car, and just imagine what a VTEC V10 would have sounded like....

I bet it would've sounded like this:

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$VTEC$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[vh_supra26]

There was so much hate towards this new CEO on The Temple of VTEC.

[cfusionpm]

This is weird considering Honda is getting into Formula 1 engines next year....

[vh_supra26]

Even if they had made a $60k-$70k full size RWD Acura sedan, would anyone actually even buy one? Last time I checked sales of the $48k RLX were already really bad. So from a business point it may have made sense for Honda to kill the flagship sedan project.

[daiheadjai]

Originally Posted by vh_supra26

Even if they had made a $60k-$70k full size RWD Acura sedan, would anyone actually even buy one? Last time I checked sales of the $48k RLX were already really bad. So from a business point it may have made sense for Honda to kill the flagship sedan project.

Don't forget the perception of luxury and how it affects buyer tastes.
You don't make a premium sedan and call it a luxury sedan without RWD and V8 as available options.
It doesn't matter that most will go with the smaller engine or AWD - RWD and V8 simply must exist for a big luxobarge to succeed.

This is why the RL has always been an also-ran, performing even worse than the offerings from Infiniti.

[SirBrass]

Originally Posted by fatoni

i think that statements like this will be met with some volatility but will ultimately prove correct. history has shown that car companies have been complacent until restrictions force them to be aggressive and think out of the box. there once was a time when emissions put an end to power and that led us to a 140 hp mustang. emissions are worse than ever now but the mustang is a disgusting display of power per dollar. new materials and new design philosophy will get us to where we want to be provided that the market wants to be there

And getting the car back to practical fun performance is what the American aftermarket has proven really good at doing. Just look at what it has done with the 86. The JDM stuff is nice, but massively expensive, whereas look at the offerings from Perrin, Nameless, JDL, kartboy, etc.

Given restrictions, we either develop around them or plow right through them, even if Californians have to do without thanks to CARB.

And the new materials and tech let us get around the numbing down that new materials and tech are forcing on the auto market too.

I'm not too terribly impressed with the domestic market offerings, but the aftermarket development is very interesting. Just look at how fast they jumped onto this platform and are still interested and getting involved.

[Purdue FR-S]

Oh, so THIS is what happened to Honda! Well that explains a lot


RIP Honda