Currently reading: Honda's hybrid sports car plan
Design boss admits sports car under consideration; may rival Porsche Boxster

Honda is considering developing a hybrid high performance sports car, design boss Nobuki Ebisawa has revealed to Autocar.

"This is something that we are considering, and the CR-Z is only one shape of Honda’s hybrid sports cars in the current age," said Ebisawa.

Some company insiders are believed to want to revive a bespoke sports car programme after the second generation NSX was axed near to production at the end of last year because of the global economic meltdown.

However a new sports car is unlikely to be as extreme as an NSX. Honda’s US dealers are known to want the company to produce a rival to the Porsche Boxster, so the new hybrid sportster could effectively replace the S2000.

Ebisawa wouldn’t be drawn on the format of a new car but he did reveal that his team is looking at weight saving techniques such as using more aluminium, which the first NSX was made from, and active areodynamics. Both of these could be employed on a new car.

The downside is that Honda’s new sports car is likely to be some way off. Ebisawa revelaled that that the company had other priorities first, such as creating a bigger range of more conventional hybrid cars.

Chas Hallett

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