Acura Chopped Up a Ferrari 458 To Learn How To Build A Competitive NSX

Whenever an automotive manufacturer embarks on a new project, it is only natural that they would take a long, hard look at what the competition is producing. Well, Acura took this to the extreme during the development of the new NSX. According to Autocar,

Acura purchased a Ferrari 458 during the development of the supercar for the eventual purpose of cutting it apart and analyzing the aluminum construction that was hidden underneath the skin. Reportedly, the remnants of that car remain in bins somewhere in Honda's R&D facility.
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USNA1999 - 8/10/2016 1:10:09 PM

-3 Boost

Nothing new here. This is what the Japanese automakers are good at, reverse engineering. That is how LEXUS kick all the German's behinds when they first introduce the LS. The problem is that they have never had any originality. Good plan, let everyone else do the hard work and just copy it and improve it.

quizz - 8/10/2016 1:22:34 PM

0 Boost

It's the Apple way (Steve Jobs is pretty blunt about this approach).
It's also how innovation works: brilliant pioneer dies broke while his patents and research lead the way for amazing consumer products 5 years later.

Mercedes, BMW and Ferrari can create some amazingly original technologies, but I'll let Ford and Toyota tweak it until it can be manufactured for daily use in a $20,000 commuter. Isn't this the beauty of trickle down theory?

skytop - 8/10/2016 9:06:30 PM

-5 Boost

That's what Japanese always do: COPY and do not innovate.
They have little creativity and little imagination.

CANADIANCOMMENTS - 8/10/2016 9:31:52 PM

-2 Boost

Sadly they added about 600lbs to it and called it a car. I fear this will be a flop as it has nothing really to do with the former NSX at all.

Dexter1 - 8/10/2016 11:41:51 PM

-2 Boost

Acura should have chopped off the front end of the NSX and replaced it with something that doesn't look like the Xenomorph from the movie Alien.

mpls - 8/11/2016 3:51:38 AM

+5 Boost

isn't that what others did do to the orginal NSX when Honda released it back then ??

mpls - 8/11/2016 3:57:46 AM

+3 Boost

"The problem is that they have never had any originality. Good plan, let everyone else do the hard work and just copy it and improve it."

That's a bloody simplistic view of things ... styling cues goes both ways, the integrated exhausts into bumpers by the 3rd Gen LS has been copied by merc and co etc.. even Ford has it now.. the 3rd Generation LS has been out for over 10 years now..
look at wikipedia and see the evolvment of car shapes over various brands /models over the last 15 years, not all car designs go one way, Your precious germans do their fair amount of copyog too !!