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FRANKFURT MOTOR SHOW: Honda NSX odds on for Oz
Product planning continues at Honda Australia, but NSX business case is not dependent on exchange ratesHonda will turn up at the Frankfurt motor show next month with the Civic Tourer, a facelifted Civic hatch – and its brand-leading supercar, the NSX.
While the NSX has been seen before, this time it's wearing Honda badges, rather than the Acura branding that reflects its place of manufacture – the USA.
The sleek new sports car is yet to be confirmed for Australia. But Honda Australia Director Stephen Collins is upbeat about it coming here.
"I think we need more sports cars in our range, and NSX would clearly be the ultimate [sports car]," he told motoring.com.au this morning.
Recent currency movements have seen the Aussie dollar slide against the greenback. That's bound to impact on vehicles being built across the Pacific and brought here. So is the currency exchange rate the primary driver of the business case for NSX coming to Australia?
"No, I don't think so," Collins responded. "That car would play a very big role in our brand... So our decision on that wouldn't be a currency-based decision, because... there's ups and downs.
"In the short term it probably doesn't look as good, but I don't think that will influence our overall decision on that car."
With that out of the way then, the probability of it coming here looks pretty good.
"I don't want to give it a number, but I'm pretty confident," Collins remarked. "We've got a history of selling the car previously, and I think we've got a good case that it would be a very strong car that would really deliver on our brand values...
"It's a case of really just finalising the business case for it... but I'm pretty confident myself."
Honda has been lacking true pizzazz in its range in recent years. The NSX might turn that around, but unless it can face up to its rivals fearlessly, it could prove to be a dud. So who will be its rivals in Australia?
"I think it's going to rival any high-performance super car," said Collins. "We're still trying to work out exactly, if we are able to get it, where we're going to position it. But it's probably not going to be too dissimilar to NSX the first time around."
"We're still working on the whole [demographic]. I think anyone who's looking for the ultimate in technology and, of course, supercar-type performance...
"It's hard to give a succinct answer because it's such a wide variety of cars that would be in that sort of sphere."
In Frankfurt next month Honda will also unveil the Civic Tourer, the production-ready wagon version of its small hatch. This has been definitely ruled out for Australia, but a facelifted Civic hatch that will debut alongside the Tourer will come to Australia, although a launch schedule for the updated model is yet to be decided.
The Civic Tourer will be built at Honda's UK plant in Swindon and will go on sale in Europe from early next year. It is expected to share the redesigned exterior and interior features of the upgraded Civic hatch, also built at Swindon.
Also on Honda's stand at Frankfurt will be the Honda-engined McLaren F1 car from 1988 and Honda's Civic WTCC contender for the 2013 season. The McLaren, with a 1.5-litre twin-turbo V6 won 15 of the 16 races it contested and set a new record for the number of wins in a single season. Honda has announced plans to join with McLaren again for the 2015 season, which will require a forced-induction V6 once more.
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Written byKen Gratton
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