Will Honda respond to the GTR?

[clapton924]

I caught a segment on the Nissan GTR the other night. Very cool car. I couldn't help to think about whether the engineers at Honda will attempt to respond to Nissan with a new car or not.  I don't claim to be an expert, but my feeling is Honda will not....as a company I think they are really moving into Eco-friendly direction.

Folks have talked about why Honda did not put the K24 block/K20 head into production.  They could have made a car with over 300hp from the factory but did not.

What do you think? Will Honda produce a GTR killer in the next 5 years?

[CrackerTeg]

I say no. Even the NSX was never really meant to fly with the supercars, but it did. Honda won't make anything to compete in the power/ torque/ or sheer speed the GTR puts out. Its not really their game.

[NVA-AV6]

No, the GTR has had majorly disappointing sales, it is only selling about 1/2 the units that Nissan expected, with the economy still down I would not expect to see anything performance from Honda until things come back around.

[timot_one]

Probably not.  The S2000 C/R is going to be Honda's flagship sports car from my perspective.

[MyNameIsThien]

As of now the S2000 CR is the flagship until the end of this year. Then the S2000 will sease to exist. Honda has stopped production of the S2000, and Only Honda knows if they will make a next generation S2000 or come up with another car to take its place. No one is really making the effort to make a car that will compete with the R35 GT-R. Mazda has even put a halt on the next generation RX-7.

[Mr Eazy]

As of now the S2000 CR is the flagship until the end of this year. Then the S2000 will sease to exist. Honda has stopped production of the S2000, and Only Honda knows if they will make a next generation S2000 or come up with another car to take its place. No one is really making the effort to make a car that will compete with the R35 GT-R. Mazda has even put a halt on the next generation RX-7.

So what about the NSX replacement that Honda was working on? I know they were testing a protype at the nurburgring. Even though a prototype is just a prototype, but I hope it wasn't a bunch of protoHYPE.

[NVA-AV6]

That project got killed for now....

[Paulius005]

This was killed for now?

[NVA-AV6]

That was the word from Honda, the $100K NSX replacement got shelved....

[CrackerTeg]

It makes sense. Like you had said earlier Paul, the worldwide economy is shit right now. Gas is expensive and its never going to drop again. Its just going to go up. The GTR is a sick car, but it was a bad move by Nissan to release it at this time as well as release it with an 80K price tag. All the people that would've bought it and know its heritage (ie. us and every other tuner out there), don't exactly have that kind of coin lying around.

[Mike]

It makes sense. Like you had said earlier Paul, the worldwide economy is shit right now. Gas is expensive and its never going to drop again. Its just going to go up. The GTR is a sick car, but it was a bad move by Nissan to release it at this time as well as release it with an 80K price tag. All the people that would've bought it and know its heritage (ie. us and every other tuner out there), don't exactly have that kind of coin lying around.

I disagree Nissan had to release this car when they did. You have to think that a car like this takes alot of time and money in research and developement. All of that money was already spent before the economy took a shit. If the investment is already made I think it is nearly impossiable for a company to not try and move forward, and get some type of return on the money that they spent. If honda didn't bother to respond to the EVO, and STI why would they respond to the GTR.

[fabulous010]

This was killed for now?

YES! someone caught it. that is honda's new s2000. i think it will be coming out 2010 or 2011. but the nsx did get cancelled.

when i worked at the honda alliston manufacturing plant here in ontario. i did learn that in comparison to other manufactures Honda is a very small company. believe it or not. i mean look at Toyota, they got three brands (toyota, lexus, and scion) plus all of the commercial vehicles and forklifts. look at nissan they got a car to compare with anyone. toyota = avalon, nissan = maxima, honda = ?. even mitsubishi makes power equipment and commercial trucks. its a shame but thats why honda has to discontinue vehicles from time to time to give us something new. sometimes its a good thing tho. for example, the TSX was the replacement for the prelude. and the rdx was the replacement for the RSX.

EDIT: that is the new NSX!!! i just googled it and found this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpMAfsSk7jM&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR2rbjo1raY&feature=related

[CrackerTeg]

It makes sense. Like you had said earlier Paul, the worldwide economy is shit right now. Gas is expensive and its never going to drop again. Its just going to go up. The GTR is a sick car, but it was a bad move by Nissan to release it at this time as well as release it with an 80K price tag. All the people that would've bought it and know its heritage (ie. us and every other tuner out there), don't exactly have that kind of coin lying around.

I disagree Nissan had to release this car when they did. You have to think that a car like this takes alot of time and money in research and developement. All of that money was already spent before the economy took a shit. If the investment is already made I think it is nearly impossiable for a company to not try and move forward, and get some type of return on the money that they spent.

Good point Mike. Unfortunately, Nissan is never going to recoup the initial investment with all the R&D they did for this monster of a car. That's business for you.

If honda didn't bother to respond to the EVO, and STI why would they respond to the GTR?

Perfect statement right there.

[Mike]

I don't know about not recoupeing the investment. This car isn't selling well in the US but, I don't know the sales numbers in the other parts of the world.

[Icebox]

If honda didn't bother to respond to the EVO, and STI why would they respond to the GTR?

Perfect statement right there.

but i wish they would