Honda S2000 Successor Could be Coming Sooner Than We Thought

replacement for the Honda S2000 could debut next year. According to Car and Driver, one source says Honda will celebrate its 70th anniversary in 2018 by unveiling a successor to the Honda S2000, along with an RC213V-S superbike. Rumors of a baby Honda NSX have been circulating for quite some time now, and it could as a sports car offering in Honda’s lineup since the NSX is sold as an Acura in the U.S. Originally expected to use the same 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine found in the Civic Type R, the source says that’s no longer the case since by 2018, that engine will be old news. “We need to take things forward,” they added. “As a celebratory model, the sports car must be special, so it must have a new powertrain and a unique chassis.”

Japanese publication Holiday Auto reports the S2000 successor will feature a two-stage electric boosting system that is similar to a technology used by Mitsubishi. The system essentially uses an electrically driven supercharger, a conventional turbocharger, a bypass valve and other components typically associated with forced induction. Mitsubishi found that these sort of systems are more fuel efficient than current twin-turbo setups and feature little to no turbo lag. As an added bonus, they’re compact and lightweight.

That means Honda could use a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine with a twin-charge system to generate over 320 horsepower, while mated to an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission.

Interested? Expect to see the model debut in 2018 at either the Paris Motor Show or the Los Angeles Auto Show. Given that it’s targeting the U.S. market, it’s more likely it will bow in Southern California.

(Source: Car and Driver)

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