Oh please please please let this be true. Honda CEO Takanobu Ito says the company is planning on building a "green" sports car that is affordable, noting the car "would be environmentally friendly and have great performance." And then he took a huge swipe at the Lexus LFA supercar unveiled at the Tokyo Auto Show.

"Sure, there are folks who like that 'vroom' of the engine out of nostalgia," he told Automotive News. "But those people are stuck in the past. The era of V-10 engines is gone."

Oh snap!

But lest you think Ito-san is some granola-munching tree-hugging hippie who hates cars, remember he was the chief body engineer on the first-gen Acura NSX, a mid-engine sports car that offered exceptional handling. (That's an NSX in the picture, with Ayrton Senna at the wheel at Suzuka in 1990, and you've gotta see the – video of that.) Ito was essential in advancing the NSX's lightweight aluminum structure and body. But that was then and this is now and times have changed.

"There is a great demand to have green cars, and we are working on environmental technologies," Ito told Autoblog. "Right now we are in the midst of developing new green technologies. That includes fuel cells and hybrids for larger vehicles. Once we come up with these new, innovative technologies that we are in the midst of researching ... I definitely would like to see Honda build a sports car which would symbolize these technologies."

The CR-Z hybrid is clearly a step in that direction. Honda is pitching it as the first hybrid sports car, a claim that gains credibility given the car sports a 1.5-liter iVTEC engine and a six-speed gearbox. And the styling is spot on, tastefully updating the second-generation CRX-Si.

Then he took another dig at the big Lex with the $375,000 price tag, saying, "Once that day comes, our sports car will not be something like what Toyota announced yesterday but instead will be something that is environmentally friendly and at the same time enjoy outstanding performance. I'd love to do that"

We love his thinking. Oh sure, we're as impressed as any other gearhead with the Lexus LFA. But if Honda could produce an eco-friendlier sports car with a reasonable price tag, it would go a long way toward eradicating the belief among gearheads that efficiency is boring.

Ito sounds like just the guy to make that happen. With all his talk cars that are easy to drive with good performance and very good fuel economy, he sounds more like Colin Chapman than some hair-shirted environmentalist.

Photo: Honda