Honda President Reportedly Confirms NSX Successor based on the HSV Racer

According to reports from Japan, Honda President Takanobu Ito has stated that the company is has restarted development on a high-performance sports car that will be positioned as the successor of the critically acclaimed NSX. The announcement was made on Friday, at a press conference detailing Honda’s 2011 motorsport involvement.

Mr. Takanobu said that the new model would be based on the HSV-010GT racecar, introduced in January. However, it’s unclear if it will use the same naturally aspirated 3.4-liter V8 engine, capable of more than 500-horsepower and over 392 Nm (289 lb-ft) of torque, or another powerplant.

By developing a street legal version of the Super GT competition model, Honda will respect an unwritten rule of the series, according to which all participating automakers have both a race and street legal version of a given nameplate.

“I think Honda should respect the history of the Super GT competition (as a stock-car race)”, Ito said.

Last but not least, the company official also talked about an affordable, small sports car, which could follow the NSX replacement.

“There are two types of sports cars--affordable and high-performance. I hope we will be able to market both”, he added.

Honda Officially Announces Fit / Jazz Shuttle, Sales Start in Japan this March

Less than a month ago, we broke the story on the leaked brochure of the Honda Fit Shuttle. Today, the Japanese automaker came out with an official announcement revealing a cropped image of the car and stating that the larger and more practical version of the Fit (otherwise known as the Jazz) will go on sale in Japan this March.

The new Fit Shuttle will be available in Japan with a similar engine lineup to the hatchback version including a conventional 1.5-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine and a hybrid variant featuring a 1.3 liter gasoline unit and a 10 KW electric motor.

Honda did not say whether the Fit Shuttle will be offered exclusively in Japan or if it will make its way to other markets as well. Follow the break for more pictures.

Honda to Build More CR-Vs in the U.S., Plans to Increase the use of Parts from Low-Cost Countries

The strong yen is affecting all Japanese automakers that are exporting their locally produced cars to America. Honda is one of them, as of the 72,000 CR-Vs built last year in Japan, 35,000 made their way to North America. Japan’s third largest automaker wants to invest in its North American plants to increase the number of CR-V it builds here and reduce exports from Japan, thus minimizing losses due to exchange rates.

“Our profit structure has improved mainly thanks to robust overseas operations, and the toughest area remains exports from Japan”, Chief Financial Officer Yoichi Hojo told reporters at Honda's headquarters on Wednesday. “With a little investment, we would be able to increase production of the CR-V in the United States, so that's the most probable course of action (to reduce yen exposure)”, he said.

The company official said that Honda is currently examining various options to increase the crossover’s production. One of the factories that builds the CR-V, the East Liberty plant, in Ohio, is already operating at full capacity, but the neighboring Marysville plant is at 80%, while a factory in Indiana is working at half of its total capacity.

Should the need arise, Honda could also increase the output of its Mexican and Canadian plants.

In the future, the automaker also plans to use more components sourced from low-cost countries, such as China and India.

According to Yoichi Hojo, low-cost components will account for at least 10% of the upcoming 2012 Civic, a major improvement considering that the current generation uses very few if any low cost parts. The same ratio is at 17% in the case of the Fit subcompact, but Honda is aiming for about 30%.