Fact Or Fantasy? US Honda VP Says If He Talks About Baby NSX He Could Be Fired

“I can’t tell you anything about the ‘baby NSX’ … I could, but I’d probably get fired.”

Those are the words of John Mendel, executive vice president of American Honda and a man who is, most likely, intimately familiar with a new mystery sports car the brand appears to be planning.

Recently uncovered patent illustrations seem to indicate that Honda is developing something that looks like a shrunken version of its new NSX supercar. Or not. We really don’t know.

But we’re pretty certain Mendel does and the fact that he even acknowledged this car speaks volumes.

MDarringer - 7/14/2015 4:11:11 PM

-7 Boost

Total BULL! Talking about it could actually make it a better product. Let's say he throws out a ballpark price and gets scourged, that could allow Acura to aim better. Talking about how the baby NSX might differ from its likely benchmark the Cayman, would tell them what enthusiasts want.

More than likely Honda is doing some idiotic hybrid design that runs on pixie dust rather than just doing a damn good sports car.

The last NSX was competent, but a Porsche 911 of the same vintage could kill it at the track. The myth around the NSX is greater than its reality. It was a good platform, but Honda never exploited the limits of its handling. They put it out and proceeded to let it get stale for 15 years.

It could be argued that Acura needs a Stingray/370Z/Shelby GT350 competitor rather than another mind-engined bauble.

IhavearedS2000 - 7/14/2015 7:03:22 PM

+6 Boost

Sure he could talk about...so armchair quarterbacks like you (and me) can disparage and guess about it to death. Aren't you one of the yahoos who hates how the NSX is being talked to death?!

MDarringer - 7/14/2015 8:24:05 PM

-5 Boost

Yahoos talking the NSX to death--positive or negative--creates a buzz that is better than advertising. You clearly know nothing about marketing. When he says he can't talk about it, he is in fact talking about the baby NSX. That in turn causes discussion that Honda/Acura WILL monitor. The science of viral marketing is actually quite fascinating.

Sometimes, manufacturers have employees posing as haters to blog and respond to see what I faithful, diehard fans are saying and hoping for.

I would love that kind of job, but (1) I won't take a huge pay cut and (2) even if I could afford the pay cut, TVR can't afford even that on their shoestring budget.

MDarringer - 7/14/2015 8:25:09 PM

-5 Boost

grr at typos: to see what faithful...

IhavearedS2000 - 7/14/2015 11:12:49 PM

+3 Boost

I guess all those tricks about marketing I learned when I worked at a prominent car ad agency in LA was all for naught...

What Mendel did is what we call a slow tease in marketing speak...look into it. Yippee ki yay...

MDarringer - 7/15/2015 9:31:07 AM

-4 Boost

Car ads are only a part of marketing and you know it. Social media is where a LOT of viral marketing happens, but social media marketing is time consuming and tricky, but ultimately worth it because it reaches more people for less money.

I've seen the company drones on Twitter for example. I made a negative comment about a product there without doing the @ tag in any way and within 5 minutes I had been contacted by representatives of the company to discuss my concerns.

Software can meta-analyze the flow of social media for key words I.e. NSX, Acura, baby NSX and alert employees working in the social media arm to read and respond. Sometimes comments are peppered to cause more conversation, but make no mistake, manufacturers do examine social media these days.

As an example, one of the reasons--though not the only reason--that Les Edgar brought TVR from Nikolai Smolenski was because the chatter about the brand didn't die down after TVR closed and it fact it actually increased.

IhavearedS2000 - 7/15/2015 7:42:32 PM

+2 Boost

Mendel's comments were not a car ad...they WERE a part of social media.

cidflekken - 7/16/2015 11:50:54 AM

+3 Boost

Marketing, advertising, whatever the case, this sounds like good news. Hopefully Honda will make the right decision and keep it in the Acura family if it truly is a "baby NSX". If it's a sports car designed to take on the likes of the range from an MX-5 to a 370Z, then Honda it is. But if it's designed and priced for the Boxster/Cayman, then it needs to be an Acura.