Acura (Honda) NSX Concept

* Most upbeat Detroit motor show in years * 10 Detroit cars that caught our eye * NSX undoubted star of the show...

Acura (Honda) NSX Concept

The Honda NSX NSX was reborn (again) in Detroit.

It's been 'cancelled' at least twice during the past decade, it's still three years off production, and is likely to be wider and longer by the time it lands in showrooms. However, despite all that, the hybrid supercar still managed to steal the limelight at the first motor show of 2012.

Honda CEO Takunobu Ito revealed that the new supercar will be developed by engineers at the company's American R&D division, built at a plant in Ohio and then sold 'around the world'. It'll have a version of Honda's SH-AWD hybrid system, with a mid-mounted V6 petrol engine driving the rear wheels and a pair of electric motors working at the front.

We tried a version of the system late last year. It applies positive and negative torque to the electric motors, which are mounted on individual wheels, to help cornering - and during a short test drive in an otherwise lumbering Honda saloon, it acquitted itself well. Throw in a sports exhaust and (hopefully) a lot less vehicle weight and the potential is enormous.

Truth is, the NSX will need to deliver on that potential because this is a name and a car with huge historical significance to Honda. The first step was always going to be styling, though, and on that score at least, it looks nicely on track.