Honda – or

rather, its posh American relation Acura – has just whipped the sheets of the

latest version of the NSX Concept. You may recognize it from the car we first

saw in Detroit last year, only this time someone remembered to fit some seats

and a steering wheel and other useful things inside. Which is why we elbowed

our way through the scrum at the Detroit Show to be the first through the low,

grey doors.

The theme? Simple and swoopy. The seat bolsters, grab rails and transmission

tunnel seem to pounce forward, as if they’re making a break for the windscreen.

But where most concept cockpits are works of fantasy with nowhere to put your

cup of coffee, this one has a traditional rear-view mirror and storage

compartments. You can see out quite easily. There’s an oblong screen in the

middle of the dash, under which is a straightforward cluster of buttons for the

gearbox, handbrake and sport modes. The steering wheel is round-ish, with three

spokes. The seats are thin and beautifully sculpted. Actually, the whole thing

feels very much like the inside of the McLaren 12C.

You could imagine it going on sale looking just like this, when it reaches

showrooms in about two years from now. Honda’s people weren’t giving much else

away, but we’ll eat our origami swans if it doesn’t have the petrol-electric

powertrain and 4WD we speculated on last year. The petrol engine, mostly likely

a 3.5-litre V6 with 400bhp, will be correctly placed in the middle of the car

and power the rear wheels. Then there are two electric motors up front: one for

each wheel, operating independently to sniff out grip and see-off understeer,

plus another one in the transmission at the rear to boost engine power when

asked. Together, the electric motors will most probably add about 100bhp to the

powertrain, bringing the new NSX to 500bhp overall.

This version – probably one or two steps away from the final production model –

is also slightly smaller than before, but we’re talking about a few millimeters

trimmed here and there. Overall, the proportions are as low and taut as an

Audi R8. In fact, standing beside it, with the roofline just above your waist,

it’s hard to fathom how they’ve crammed all those motors inside. If it stays

like this, you could be looking at one of the most exciting cars we’ll drive

this decade. Here’s hoping, anyway…

Dan Read