Acura chooses Ohio production site for its NSX hybrid supercar

By Stephen Edelstein Updated January 10, 2015

Acura NSX concept — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Normally, when a carmaker decides which of its many plants will build a given model it isn’t very exciting, but we’ve been so starved for information on the Acura NSX hybrid supercar that such an announcement is worth noting.

Acura will build the NSX at a new facility in Ohio with the slightly oxymoronic name of “Performance Manufacturing Center.” Honda’s luxury division had previously discussed building the car in Ohio, but now it’s official.

The site will be near Honda of America’s existing Marysville Auto Plant, and the Honda R&D Americas Ohio Center that is doing most of the engineering work on the NSX.

The NSX manufacturing facility will employ 100 “highly skilled manufacturing associates,” according to Acura, drawn from the other Ohio facilities. Powertrain assembly will take place at Honda’s Anna, Ohio plant.

If there’s any car that deserves a brand new, bespoke assembly plant, it’s the NSX.

Unveiled as a concept car at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show, the NSX is the successor to Acura’s legendary supercar of the 1990s and sports a sophisticated hybrid powertrain.

The NSX features a new Sport Hybrid Super Handling All-Wheel Drive (SH-AWD) system, consisting of a mid-mounted, direct-injected V6 and three electric motors.

One electric motor will be connected to the gasoline engine, as with conventional hybrids, and help drive the rear wheels. The other two will power the front wheels, giving the NSX all-wheel traction and the ability to vector torque side to side to improve cornering.

Wrap that package up in styling that was attractive enough to lure Tony Stark away from his Audi R8 in the Avengers (and make Jay Leno swipe car no.1 from Jerry Seinfeld in this hilarious bit), and the NSX should be quite a machine.

Acura hopes to put its supercar on sale sometime in 2015, and with a production site chosen, it appears to be well on its way to meeting that goal. We can’t wait.

Stephen Edelstein

Contributing Editor

Stephen is a freelance automotive journalist covering all things cars. He likes anything with four wheels, from classic cars…

Cars

Could Chinese cars save us from high EV prices?

BYD Han

The electric vehicle market is seriously heating up, with more great options being released every few months. But while there are more and more excellent electric vehicle options available, it’s still hard to find a great EV that doesn’t cost at least $40,000 or so.

But there could be a solution to that -- or at least a way to ease the problem. How? High-quality, low-cost Chinese EVs.
Competition
At face value, the solution to lowering EV prices is simple -- and involves a combination of the cost of new tech decreasing over time, while automakers release more and more models, increasing competition and pushing companies to create better-value vehicles.

Cars

Tesla Cybertruck: everything we know

Tesla's Cybertruck.

The Tesla Cybertruck is Tesla's take on an electric truck, and boy has it had a controversial first few years. The truck was first announced back in 2019 -- complete with broken window... during a demo showing how strong the windows were supposed to be. When the truck finally started rolling out to customers in 2023, it did so very slowly -- and was soon subject of a recall.

We're now almost a year into Cybertrucks on the streets, and if you live in a major U.S. city, it's entirely possible that you've seen one in the flesh. If you have, you know that it's completely unlike anything else on the road right now, and represents Tesla's vision of the future of personal transportation.

Cars

BMW’s EVs trace their roots to this innovative 1972 prototype

BMW 1602 Electric.

In the 1960s, when the electric car looked more like a far-fetched science fair experiment than a relatively convenient way of moving people and goods, investing in electrification made little sense. And yet, it's the early, rudimentary prototypes that paved the road for the current crop of EVs. For example, BMW displayed a stunning amount of foresight when it built a pair of electric 1602s and tested them during a major sporting event.

BMW launched this ambitious project in 1969 and planned to have a running prototype ready in time for the 1972 Olympic Games, which were set to take place in its hometown of Munich, Germany. Developing an electric car from scratch was ruled out for cost reasons.