Honda NSX 2016 News

It’s hard to imagine any job more thrustingly phallic or back-slappingly blokey than designing super cars.

Honda has finally launched right-hand-drive production for its $420,000 NSX ahead of the hybrid supercar's Australian launch early next year.

The horn in the Honda NSX is feeble. Barely a squeak.

If the performance of Honda’s NSX supercar doesn’t take your breath away, the price is sure to.

Driving enthusiasts will have ample reasons to smile in the new year.

The most important car in Honda's global recovery plan is running late.

Later this month Ferrari will show off its newest supercar, the 488 GTB, to Australian customers.First drive reviews suggest it's a more than worthy replacement for the fabulous 458. But if Italian supercars are not your style, brands from Germany, Japan, Britain and the US are lining up to tempt the supercar enthusiast.The second generation of Ingolstadt's supercar evolves the original design but is built around a new aluminium and carbon fibre space-frame. A 5.2-litre V10 engine sits behind the cabin and comes in two levels of tune: 397kW or 449kW, with the more powerful able to hit 100km/h in 3.2 seconds. A bright yellow example was on display at the MCG during the International Champions Cup at the weekend.Deliveries begin in the first quarter of 2016, with prices starting at about $370,000.The revived version of Honda's famous NSX from the 1990s will be a hybrid powered by a turbocharged 3.5-litre V6 engine in combination with three electric motors. One motor boosts engine output to the rear axle while the other two independently drive the front wheels. Where the original was all-aluminium, the new NSX will comprise a mix of carbon fibre, aluminium, steel and "other advanced materials". Deliveries begin next year, with prices expected to start around $250,000.The star of this year's Detroit motor show was designed by Australian Todd Willing, so it's a shame the GT is left-hand-drive only and cannot be road-registered here. That won't stop a few collectors signing up for the second revival of the famous Le Mans winning racer from the 1960s. Ford chose this year's event to announce it would use the new GT for another crack at the race next year.Road cars will be powered by a turbocharged V6 with about 450kW; overseas deliveries start next year.The British supercar specialist now has three strands to its model range, with the most accessible Sports Series comprising the recently unveiled 540C and 570S. The 570S is named for the output of its turbocharged 3.8-litre V8 in metric horsepower, equivalent to 419kW, and with a dry weight of just 1.3 tonnes it can reach 100km/h in 3.2 seconds. Australian deliveries begin next March, with prices at $408,000 (including NSW on-roads) for the 570S and $350,000 for the less powerful 540C.

Albert Park hosts motoring's finest this weekend - and there will be an F1 race, too.

The successor to Japan’s original Ferrari-fighting supercar is still at least a year away from Australian showrooms even though it has been unveiled and is gearing up for production.The new generation Honda NSX will make an appearance in concept car form at this year’s Australian Formula One Grand Prix in Melbourne next month, and is confirmed for sale locally, but Honda still does not know when it will arrive and how much it will cost.“We’ve asked our dealers not to take orders (on the new Honda NSX) until we have a clearer idea on timing and pricing,” said Honda Australia director Stephen Collins. “We think at this stage in will arrive in the second half of 2016, but it’s yet to be confirmed.”We think at this stage in will arrive in the second half of 2016, but it’s yet to be confirmed.Honda Australia also wouldn’t speculate on price. “I can honestly say I have no idea where it will end up,” said Mr Collins.In the US, the new Honda NSX is tipped to cost about $150,000 plus taxes and delivery charges. But it will likely cost more than $200,000 when it arrives locally.The original Honda NSX went on sale in Australia in 1991 for $160,000 but the price quickly rose to $220,000 in 1995 and had climbed to $256,000 when it was discontinued in 2005. About 160 Honda NSX supercars were sold locally from a global production run of 18,685 vehicles.Honda Australia says only a handful of its national network of 107 dealers will sell and service the NSX, just as Nissan appoints a limited number of outlets to handle the GT-R.Honda’s mid-engined supercar will be built in Ohio, North America rather than Japan, the birthplace of the original model made from 1990 to 2005.It will be powered by a twin turbo V6 matched to a hybrid system and a nine-speed twin clutch transmission. Power and performance figures are yet to be released.But it’s safe to assume it’ll have more get-up-and-go than the original. The first Honda NSX from 1990 was powered by a 3.0-litre V6 with 201kW of power. Today, a Holden Commodore V6 has almost as much power (195kW).In what appears to becoming a tradition among Japanese supercars, the Honda NSX is a long time coming, just as the latest Nissan GT-R took almost a decade to reach production.Honda unveiled a show car in 2007 and forecast that it would have V10 engine power and be in showrooms by 2010. But then the Global Financial Crisis hit and the NSX was put on hold. For almost nine years.Meanwhile, the news is not so good for fans holding out for the Honda Civic Type R. It is still up to two years away from local roads.Even though Honda has unveiled a Civic Type R concept car and talked about its new turbocharged engine, there are still no firm production plans, says Honda Australia director Stephen Collins."I think we will get it (Honda Civic Type R)," he said. "It has a rich heritage in Australia. But it's not yet confirmed. It won't arrive before the NSX and that means it could be as late as 2017 (before it arrives in local showrooms)."