Is The Upcoming Acura NSX Going To Be Success Or Will It Be Lukewarm Or God Forbid A FLOP?

It's pretty safe to say Acura has been going through some pretty rough times.

Once known as the first ever Japanese Luxury brand building beautiful products like the original Legend Coupe, the marque now fights to even remain relevant.

And they honestly have no one to blame but themselves.

They've had a string of forgettable, bland/mediocre products along with an ineffective crew of executives.

Funny though, NONE of them have ever been fired and even now when you speak to anyone at the brand there seems to be no sense of urgency and a lot of denial remains.

So they're trying a Hail Mary with the return of the NSX seen here in IndyCar decoration.

THe question we want answered though is will the NSX be the answer or will the recetion be lukewarm or God forbid ANOTHER flop and too little, too late?

Spies, discuss...

From the Indy press release:

Acura today released an image of a prototype NSX supercar, announcing that the running prototype will take to the racetrack just prior to the Honda Indy 200 IndyCar Series race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. The NSX prototype with custom graphics will lap the road course in advance of the race on August 4, 2013. The race will be broadcast live by NBC Sports Network starting at 3 p.m. EDT. Global development of the NSX, slated for launch in 2015, is being led by engineers at Honda R&D Americas, Inc. in Raymond, Ohio. Additionally, it was announced in May that the next-generation Acura supercar will be produced at the newly established Performance Manufacturing Center in nearby Marysville, Ohio. The prototype model maintains the styling and proportions of the NSX Concept that debuted at the 2012 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, while packaging the production vehicle's mid-mounted V-6 engine mated to Acura's innovative new three-motor Sport Hybrid SH-AWD (Super Handling All Wheel Drive) system.

Henanamani1 - 7/26/2013 1:29:32 PM

+4 Boost

Success

Satriani1 - 7/26/2013 2:03:09 PM

+1 Boost

Yeah, the crew of Acura people at the car show should be fired as well. When asked about the NSX exhibit and it's obvious they are ignorant, yet they're the most arrogant and unhelpful bunch of twits of any of the car exhibitors, even the supercar exhibitors. It's obvious Acura plunked the NSX in the car show as a halo car to put more shine on their other car products.

Sciros - 7/26/2013 2:07:51 PM

+4 Boost

It's a Honda and it's a beautiful car. Without a halo car and any sort of sportiness in the last generation of Acuras, this is exactly what the brand needs.

cidflekken - 7/26/2013 3:29:29 PM

0 Boost

Only time will tell. Styling-wise, I think it has the right ingredients to fit right into the realm of super/exotic cars. Performance-wise, based on specs, it should be competitive against its direct rivals. The driving experience, this is where Acura needs to set itself apart from its rivals. With SH-AWD, it has a really good chance of that and if Acura takes from its own HSV-010 technology and development, it further increases that chance. Also its fuel economy numbers (not that that really matters in this segment) should set it apart.

TheSteve - 7/26/2013 3:57:11 PM

-2 Boost

In my opinion, The Brand With the Beak (AKA Acura) carries a lot of baggage, as stated by '001: bland styling and mediocre products come to mind. You can almost hear the Acura Enterprise snoring.

Enter NSX 2.0. The styling looks like a blend of Pontiac and Corvette, with trying-too-hard, look-at-me! angularity and dissonance. Even if the car turns in admirable track numbers, it'll still have The Beak, and raise suspicion by being a member of the boat-anchor of a bland brand.

When the NSX is available for sale, I predict you'll see some initially "interesting" (though not brisk) sales numbers, due to Acura fans with deep moderately pockets. After that, they'll level off at uninspiring levels, where they will languish for several years while Acura scratches their head, wondering why they haven't duplicated the interest of the original NSX. Eventually, Acura will pull the plug and discontinue making a car that nobody is buying.

I believe if they had created a car with classic styling, like McLaren, rather than the trendy stuff that virtually everyone is doing nowadays, they would have had a lot more interest. Remember, the original NSX was underpowered with a 270 HP 3 liter V6, but its styling was gorgeous for the era. Similarly, the 1964 (and 1/2) Mustang was immensely popular, even though it didn't have the power or handling of a sports car; It had style at a reasonable price.

IhavearedS2000 - 7/26/2013 5:35:19 PM

+3 Boost

When the original NSX was introduced many thought the design looked too much like a Ferrari, especially the front end. The NSX is handsome but not groundbreaking just like the original.

Honda/Acura no doubt has been asleep for the last decade, but there are clear and definite signs the ol' innovative 'Honda Way' is back and stronger than ever in a very competitive market. Your predictions of a quickly fizzling out new NSX are right on for the Honda/Acura of 2000-2013...but I see a bright future. New NSX, new Civic type R, small sports car on its way as well. Even the relatively mundane everyday Hondas are starting to show some interesting new ideas, like the Fit hybrid with DCT - instead of a droning CVT(Nissan) or the typically jerky DCT(cough, VW..cough..Ford), Honda combines hybrid/DCT and uses the best attributes of both while working around the negatives. Cleverness...a formula Honda was so brilliantly known for in the past.

TheSteve - 7/27/2013 2:29:47 AM

0 Boost

IhavearedS2000: How long should I give you before we meet up to compare notes on whether Acura's "cleverness" results in a resounding NSX 2 success, or whether my scenario comes to pass?

IhavearedS2000 - 7/27/2013 1:32:07 PM

+3 Boost

New NSX intro in '15, I'd give it a year or two after to see if Honda/Acura is finally getting back its mojo. I hope it is but as a fan of Honda for over 25 years I'm just getting info that's available from the internet - some reliable, some not so sure about...

But I must say, even If I am right, I'm not sure I'd want to meet you...the name TheSteve gives me the creeps ;-p

cidflekken - 7/26/2013 6:36:41 PM

+2 Boost

To add, even more important to the success of the NSX, specifically long-term, will be the impact of the RLX SH-AWD. The FWD RLX has been met with good to lukewarm reviews, overall. The SH-AWD version needs to really knock it out of the park in terms of driving dynamics, thus solidifying its place amongst strong sedans, to trickle down this perception to the upcoming TLX. I still feel that Acura made a huge mistake in introducing the FWD version first as it was inevitable to get exactly the types of reviews it has received, and consumer response has been tepid. However, the timing of the production hype for the NSX begins (starting with this lap of a prototype), with the pending release of the SH-AWD RLX might prove a perfect marketing scheme.

Aznboyz - 7/29/2013 11:27:48 AM

-1 Boost

Just stop already, the car sucks and everyone knows it. There is simply no reason to buy it over an A6, GS, E-class or 5-series. NONE.

skytop - 7/26/2013 9:47:50 PM

-2 Boost

It sure looks like the Joker Acura front end. Ugh.......

When will Acura wake up and get wise to itself that its design team is way off the beam.

amgs65 - 7/29/2013 11:39:01 AM

-1 Boost

Acura- "Peddling psuedo-luxury to unsuspecting buyers for 25 years!"

Bosshog - 7/29/2013 5:33:30 PM

+1 Boost

hahaha!!! Bingo!

NSXR - 7/29/2013 5:16:30 PM

0 Boost

Looking forward to a proper replacement of my 91...only if it comes with a V10 or TT-V8. The look is back on track; just needs minor tweaking of the nose. I know it's the beak, but the 1st thing that comes to mind is Camaro. Other than that, loving it!

<iframe class="vine-embed" src="https://vine.co/v/hAYqxjnjlJq/embed/simple" width="600" height="600" frameborder="0"></iframe><script async src="//platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

NSXR - 7/29/2013 5:18:01 PM

0 Boost

Sorry about that:

https://vine.co/v/hAYqxjnjlJq

thomas - 7/30/2013 7:40:55 PM

+1 Boost

Not enough BEAK!!!