Honda S2000 Successor Rumored to Get AWD and Hybrid Powertrain

Earlier this year, Honda announced that the S2000 Roadster's decade-long production run will come to an end this year, leaving the company without a proper sports car. However, in addition to the launch of the production version of the front-wheel drive CR-Z hybrid small coupe in 2010, Japan's Best Car is now reporting that Honda is also working on a larger and more powerful coupe that would essentially act as a replacement to the S2000. The magazine claims that the 2+2 coupe would ditch the S2000's rear-wheel drive layout for the firm's Super Handling All-Wheel Drive system (SH-AWD).

Furthermore, it is said in the report that the sports coupe will benefit from a hybrid system similar to the ones used on Honda's Insight and Civic IMA hybrid cars. No word on if the S2000 replacement would use a high-rev 4-cylinder or go for a larger displacement V6 petrol engine.

Officially, Honda has given the green light to the CR-Z hybrid sports car while the Japanese firm announced the cancelation of its V10-powered NSX successor at the end of 2008 due to the economic crisis. Honda has made no announcement whatsoever on a S2000 replacement.

So what do we think about Best Car's report? It isn't the first time we've been hearing rumours about a Honda sports car of this type, and it sure ain't the last. A high-performance 2+2 Hybrid Coupe with AWD does sound interesting and more vitally, feasible, but for the time being we'll keep this story in the grapevine.

source: http://carscoop.blogspot.com