Silver F16 said:
V10 is a surprise. Why V10? I came to this. Its all about Greatness. If Honda put in a V8, within a few years, some people would want something better. The general public may consider a V8 from Honda nothing special since every jack of all trade performance car built by Domestic OEM has a V8. And to some people, a V8 from Honda is no better than a V8 from Ford.
Honda learned their mistake with all the criticism about the V6 engine. Honda doesn't want to repeat this mistake with a V8. A V10, on the other hand, speaks exotic. Its an image thing. I'm sure Honda can make a V8 perform as well without the need for a V10. But Honda wants to go after the general public perception that a V10 is no doubt an exotic car. Never again will the engine in the NSX be critized. A V12 is even better, but a bit excessive, whereas the V10 already meets the true exotic quotient.
Will this car be a sales Flop? I doubt it. I suspect these additional changes are in order to make it more comprehensive exotic car package:
- A host of new technologies applied on the V10
- Exotic materials (Aluminum and Carbon Fiber)
- Styling from Pinnafarina. Honda still has a working relationship with them.
- Advanced and new technolgy applied to the drivetrain, brakes, and safety
- Good fuel economy via new technologies and VCM. (IMA will not make it)
- A strong marketing campaign, not the current plain Jane marketing
- Much improved dealer support/customer service/sponsored events
It will be over $100K and compete with Carrera GT! Ferrari who?
I applaud Honda's leadership for taking this bold step. Looks like they have a strong Leader with Fukui.
Wow. Gee, this sounds so much like the NSX, it's not funny. Exotic. New technologies. Exotic materials. Ferrari who?
SALES FLOP.
It is not, and never will be a Ferrari. Hasn't ANYONE been listening? It doesn't MATTER how GOOD the car is, ok? ALL that matters here in NA is what BADGE is on the hood.
It's why the NSX didn't sell even a BETTER car than a Ferrari or Porsche and why the Z8 doesn't sell and why people buy Bentleys instead of $180,000 MBs. EVERY car has its price niche. Honda's and Acura's simply AREN'T in Porsche's realm. Neither is Lexus. LET Toyota produce a $150,000 car. Nobody will buy it. They'll sell a couple and then, people will get tired of having to defend that it's just a Toyota to the Italian owners' clubs.
Honda can succeed if they sell a sports car around $70,000 in today's dollars. That's about as high as a Japanese car can go for in NA. Any higher and it HAS to be German. The Germans top out in the low 100s, say 110 or 120. Any higher and it has to be Italian as a sports car or British as a saloon.
If Honda shows up w/ a 500hp V10 at $70k, I think they'll have a winner. The Viper and Vette are the model that have to be followed. The Viper is incredibly expensive for a Dodge and the fact that it's a Dodge has hindered it from Day One among buyers who cringed at the thought of driving a Dodge. But, it had 400, now 500hp, and a titanic engine. The Corvette was $40-55k, way cheaper. The Vette is and always has been a car that you bought to run w/ 911s but to save $40,000.
If Honda is dumb enough to AGAIN produce a better car than the Italians or Germans for NOT less than 1/2 the price and expect its objective technical superiority to win over buyers then they've learnt nothing.
Audi's supercar? Idiotic. They cannot sell Phaetons or A8s, much less a car w/ 4 rings on the hood and priced like a Lambo. The notion that they can is absurd.
Every top manager wants a supercar now, it seems, whether or not the thing will sell. Nissan, Mazda, and Honda have had sales success w/ relatively high-powered sportscars in the low 20s to low 30s.
Really, it will not matter how much hp the V10 makes, how good the torque vectoring is, if the car is made of unobtanium. If this is a series vehicle, potential buyers will STILL want a Ferrari.
It's because of CHICKS, dammit...start thinking like a girl. That means throw away nearly every piece of useful knowledge and focus on superficiality instead of substance. Once you do that for a minute, it becomes obvious why the Ferrari is the better car.
Two guys compete for a girl in a club. One says he drives a Ferrari, one an Audi or a Honda. Who gets the girl? DUH. Chicks have to SEE the NSX to be impressed by it...they can merely hear about the Ferrari.
Yes, I know, this doesn't MATTER to us, but the people here who love the NSX for what it does and how it does it, are NOT typical of the masses of people we have to depend upon to make this new car a sales success, you know the ppl who own Ferraris that sit in their garages all the time. Without lowest-common-denominators supporting our vehicle, it will get lost in the shuffle just like the NSX did.
