The Acura sports car will be produced at the newly established Performance Manufacturing Center in Marysville, Ohio starting in 2015.
Acura today released an image of a prototype NSX sports car, and said that the running two-seater will take to the racetrack just prior to the Honda Indy 200 IndyCar Series race at Mid-Ohio on 4 August. NBC Sports starting at 3 pm EDT will broadcast the race live.
The prototype NSX appears to have the same styling and proportions of an NSX Concept that debuted at the 2012 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The production NSX due in 2015 will come with a mid-mounted V6 engine and a new three-motor Sport Hybrid SH-AWD for Super Handling All Wheel Drive in marketing babble.
Last May, Honda said that the next-generation Acura sports car would be produced at the newly established Performance Manufacturing Center in Marysville, Ohio. The original Acura NSX was built at the Takanezawa plant in Japan from 1990 until production moved to the Suzuka plant in early 2004, where it was produced until 2005. Part of the Tochigi Factory, the Takanezawa plant was the first manufacturing facility in the world to mass-produce an all-aluminum body and balance advanced production equipment with hands-on “craftsman” processes.
The site for the new production facility, Honda’s third auto plant in Ohio, is only a few miles from the Honda R&D Americas that is engineering the sports car for production. The Performance Manufacturing Center also is close to Honda Engineering North America, which develops new production technologies. (2015 Acura NSX Assembly Slated For Marysville Ohio)
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
