Ito told Autocar magazine at the Frankfurt Motor Show, “I spent part of my early career at Honda developing the NSX, and specifically the aluminium body. I really enjoyed the experience and learned much, so my wish is that Honda engineers have the experience of developing a sports car like the NSX in the future. Within Honda, our engineers are already looking at developing such a car.”

Ito did not reveal more information about the new NSX, but said that the car will be different from its predecessor. “The original NSX was about high power but also about good driving experience. Today power-to-weight is what we have to focus on. The NSX was known for its aluminium body, so when we develop our new sport car we don’t want to copy Ferrari for power, but to also chase efficiency as well," Ito said.

Honda had previously planned to put the HSC Concept, first displayed at the 2003 Tokyo Motor Show, into production as the new NSX, but the project was cancelled by former CEO Takeo Fukui due to the economic crisis at that time.

Meanwhile, Honda has also confirmed that it is currently developing a Type R version of the new Civic, which is scheduled to be launched next year. According to the new Civic’s chief engineer, Mitsuru Kariya, “The performance version is already under discussion. We know the Type R was a big success, and we are looking for a car developed in that direction. Whether it will be called Type R is not certain though.”