Honda S660 roadster will be built, but will it come here? By: Graham Kozak on 5/07/2014 from Autoweek Oh, Honda. The Accord is swell, but what we really want are your home-market offerings -- the toasterlike N-Ones and the utilitarian Actys we see every year at the Tokyo motor show. And when we say we, we mean other auto writers with weird tastes: If Honda thought there were a market for tiny vehicles here, they would be selling them alongside the Ridgelines and CR-Vs. But that S660 concept we saw last year wasnt half bad, and it should have broader appeal than some of Hondas JDM micromini people haulers. A true two-seater with rear wheels powered by a 660cc engine (all the better to meet Japans kei car regulations), the little S660 seemed just plausible enough to drive American journalists on the show floor mad with desire. Response.jp broke the news that Honda selected a plant for the S660 last month, but it wasnt until U.S. sites like Autoblog relayed the news more recently that we noticed. The plant, located in Yokkaichi, Japan -- not too far from Suzuka Circuit -- also once built the Honda Beat kei car. Like the S660, the Beat got a mid-engine, rear-drive configuration and a three-cylinder powerplant built to conform to 660cc kei car regulations. It was never sold in the United States. But it will be different this time! Were sure of it! The sporty S660 will nicely round out Hondas growing performance portfolio. It would look great parked next to the turbo Civic Type-R, which is totally coming to our shores as well. Or maybe we just want to believe. Honda hasnt given us a roadster since the acclaimed S2000 went away in 2009, and it doesnt seem to have any plans to make this one available in the United States. Perhaps the petite sportster could be sold as a trunk-stashable companion car, the Motocompo to the Honda Odysseys City Turbo II. Hey, might as well dream big…and start planning for 2040 when, worst-case scenario, well be able to start legally importing S660s to the States.
Posted on: Fri, 20 Jun 2014 22:36:20 +0000
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