Finally! I've been hoping for one of these on the NSX. Engineer interviews, development history, and more technical info than even the most obsessed fanatics will have, at least so far. Enjoy!
Technical development retrospective video (savagegeese)
- Thread starter The_Insane_Zane
- Start date
Now I don't have to wonder what all those engineers were saying in the Japanese NSX videos! I truly loved Uehara's closing advice to current NSX owners, we are but caretakers of this automotive engineering icon and should take his words to heart.
A great video with lots of reflection on the aims, reasoning and thinking behind our cars from the generation that are (mostly) now retired. This highlights the combination of a golden age of innovation and implementation before the butt-dyno was overridden by hindering algorithms, and the quest for vapid number-based unusable hype.
Educational, informative, and to me inspiring.
Educational, informative, and to me inspiring.
Japan certainly had their sports car shit together back then- introducing the NSX, Miata, and Z32 300ZX at essentially the same time.
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Transcript:
“During initial launch, the NSX ordering-system was not electronic, relied on a long people trail. So, the factory ramped up production only to ??? the orders in Japan, has been duplicated, the ??? was [in fact] lower than expected.”
Anyways, what exactly does it mean?
Does it mean, due to “flaws” within Honda’s (manual) ordering-system, initally they produced more NSXs (NSX chassis etc for a specific destination/region/country) than ordered by customers??
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I think it means that more orders came in than customers who actually were ready to buy the car. I imagine it was something like people in the US putting a deposit down on a new model at the dealer. The percentage of those who actually go on to purchase the car is less than 100%.
Transcript:
“During initial launch, the NSX ordering-system was not electronic, relied on a long people trail. So, the factory ramped up production only to ??? the orders in Japan, has been duplicated, the ??? was [in fact] lower than expected.”
Anyways, what exactly does it mean?
Does it mean, due to “flaws” within Honda’s (manual) ordering-system, initally they produced more NSXs (NSX chassis etc for a specific destination/region/country) than ordered by customers??
You had to buy your NSX through the Honda Verno dealership network in Japan and during the pre-release hype, they likely were taking reservations for production slots. I'm sure that due to the long process of manual ordering, the dealerships sent the factory the number of reservations versus customers who actually put the money down to buy a car.
If you've ever noticed, the MACS sales data for the 1990-93 JDM NSX is unknown. With this video, we may now have an answer why. Honda was totally confused about how many NSXs it actually sold in Japan!
Thank you Honcho! The chapter title in the video is “The Bubble Burst“ and the guy in the video basically talks about (pretty fast – imho) the global economy in the early 90s. Sure, not only had the Gulf War broken out in 1990, but there was an economic recession in the United States, and the Japanese asset price bubble also burst in 1991. All this made selling especially very expensive supercars (e.g. Jaguar XJ220, Lamborghini P140 and a few others) extremely difficult because all of a sudden almost nobody was buying them.
Anyways, all this was problem #1 for Honda too. In addition, there was problem #2:
Unfortunately, the guy in the video doesn’t elaborate on the topic “Multiple allocations were given to same customer from multiple dealerships” – a topic, which has absolutely nothing to do with problem #1. HOW exactly could this (multiple allocations) happen??
Anyways, here THE question and why I’m asking:
What exactly happened with lots of already produced/built NSXs (including already stamped VINs!) as initially ordered by customers, but didn’t (couldn’t) left the factory due to either lots of cancellations and/or in addition due to lots of wrong/multiple allocations to the same customers, as mentioned but not sufficiently elaborated in the video?
In simple words, I think that Honda initially produced/built way too much NSXs in the Tochigi factory (especially MJ 1991 NSXs) than actually ordered and bought. THIS could also be the reason, why I simply can’t find (and will never find!) around 600 – 700 NSXs/VINs with European specs:
https://www.nsxprime.com/threads/switzerland-where-are-the-swiss-nsx-owners.218796/post-2075118
Anyways, all this was problem #1 for Honda too. In addition, there was problem #2:
Unfortunately, the guy in the video doesn’t elaborate on the topic “Multiple allocations were given to same customer from multiple dealerships” – a topic, which has absolutely nothing to do with problem #1. HOW exactly could this (multiple allocations) happen??
Anyways, here THE question and why I’m asking:
What exactly happened with lots of already produced/built NSXs (including already stamped VINs!) as initially ordered by customers, but didn’t (couldn’t) left the factory due to either lots of cancellations and/or in addition due to lots of wrong/multiple allocations to the same customers, as mentioned but not sufficiently elaborated in the video?
In simple words, I think that Honda initially produced/built way too much NSXs in the Tochigi factory (especially MJ 1991 NSXs) than actually ordered and bought. THIS could also be the reason, why I simply can’t find (and will never find!) around 600 – 700 NSXs/VINs with European specs:
https://www.nsxprime.com/threads/switzerland-where-are-the-swiss-nsx-owners.218796/post-2075118
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The 30th anniversary book discussed this issue. One proposal was to convert finished automatic cars to manual.
Ultimately they found a way to push excess inventory to dealers as demo cars
Might I suggest an interesting read. It's is a book called, Arrogance and Accords: The Inside Story of the Honda Scandal by Steve Lynch. They discuss the NSX ordering fiasco, not at great length but enough to understand what transpired. Keep in mind, computers weren't utilized like they are today.
I finally had the time to sit down and watch this last night. I have to say, it was incredible! I always said how important it is to document the NSX with everyone who was involved in the project while the car was relevant and everyone was still here.
As an NSX/CRX and S2000 fanatic, I was truly blown away and had no idea of Uehara's influence in the CRX as well.
Thanks for your hint – but “Honda’s Ugly Little Secret“ (the Honda Scandal) in the 70s, 80s and early 90s …
https://www.nytimes.com/1993/05/02/business/honda-s-ugly-little-secret.html
…has nothing to do with problem #1 (The Bubble Burst) and problem #2 (multiple allocations to same customer); especially in connection with an expensive car like the NSX ($60k+) in the early 90s, I think.
A copy/photo just of the part in the (pretty expensive) book by Steve Lynch about "the NSX ordering fiasco" would be great ...
