Acura Teases Electric Supercar: Is This the Third-Gen NSX?
Acura has dropped many hints that the NSX name could return on an electric supercar, and this is the biggest yet.
Two years ago, when Acura announced it was wrapping up production of the second-generation NSX, we all had a feeling the iconic model would soon return as a full-electric supercar. In fact, Acura boss Jon Ikeda pretty much told us that at the time, saying: "If you notice, we make an NSX when there's something we want to say. The first-gen was gas. Second-gen was a hybrid. There's gonna be another one." Today, Acura isn't exactly tamping down that rumor as it releases a shadowy teaser that sure looks like the future electric NSX.
Acura's official line is that this is the brand's "latest Electric Vision" showcasing an "all-electric high-performance model," created by the Acura Design Studio in Los Angeles. There are basically no other details—no hints of production plans, no target specs, nothing. Let's be real, though: Acura wouldn't be showing us this if it didn't have something in the works. Automaker design departments are constantly sketching ideas for the future, but they're rarely seen by the public, let alone sent out in a press release during one of the industry's biggest weeks of the year.
It's hard to get much out of these teasers, but the concept clearly has an NSX-like mid-engine profile, a lighting signature reminiscent of Acura's new LMDh prototype race cars, and a rear fascia full of straight lines and sharp angles and another full-width light bar. You can also make out side view cameras instead of normal mirrors. Neon green accents represent electrification, I suppose, but I could live without those.
Parent company Honda has already teased several electric sports car concepts that it says will launch by the end of the decade, including one that appears to share a similar outline to this. Ikeda has also said that any future electric sports car would be built on Honda's still-in-the-works e:Architecture EV platform instead of the GM Ultium plank underpinning its more mass-market EVs.
However, it's way too early to speculate about where this future NSX might fall into into production plans. Keen observers will recall that the second-generation NSX was delayed for years before launching in 2016 as Honda pivoted away from the original V10 concept during development and turned it into an accessible hybrid supercar.
Here's hoping this maybe-NSX doesn't run into the same hurdles en route to a road near you.
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