Honda’s hybrid NSX on racetrack

July 30, 2013 by Alastair Sloane

Honda NSX prototype

Honda is showing a prototype version of its next-generation NSX supercar at a racetrack in the United States this weekend.

The hybrid car will do a lap of the circuit (Monday, NZ time) before the start of a sports car race in Lexington, Ohio.

The track is just down the road from Honda’s North American research and development centre in Raymond, Ohio.

The production NSX will be built nearby and sold in the US from late next year under the Acura brand. It will go global in 2015.

Honda released a single photo of the blue prototype with its “custom graphics.”

The car maintains the styling and proportions of the NSX Concept unveiled at last year’s Detroit motor show.

It is powered by a mid-mounted V6 engine mated to an electric three-motor Sport Hybrid SH-AWD (Super Handling All Wheel Drive) system, says the Japanese company.

One of the electric motors will sit between the engine and a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, while the other two electric motors will drive each of the front wheels.

The NSX will be available in right-hand drive but Honda New Zealand is yet to confirm its appearance here. Orders for the car in Britain opened some months ago.

The first-generation NSX went on sale in 1991. It received a facelift in 2002 before being officially discontinued in 2005.

Honda had the second-generation model pretty much ready to go in 2008 but shelved it when the global financial crisis bit deep.

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