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Honda previews S660 roadster ahead of Tokyo debut

Honda isn't known for making convertibles. In fact, legend has it that old man Soichiro banned them from his lineup - but then he also didn't approve of six-cylinder engines, either. There have been exceptions, like the Civic del Sol and S2000, and today Honda has revealed another.
Set to debut at the forthcoming Tokyo Motor Show in late November is the Honda S660 concept, a compact little roadster about which Honda is saying even less. It looks about the size of a Kei car, with a nameplate that suggests a 660cc engine, making it more of a revival for the 1990's Beat than the high-end S2000. And while there are some clear similarities with the EV-STER concept that debuted two years ago in Tokyo, the S660 looks closer to production-ready, with key features like an actual steering wheel.
Of course, whether the S660 makes production, and beyond that makes it off of the Japanese islands and across the Pacific to US showrooms, is another matter, but we could see something like this taking the fight to the Mazda MX-5 and even the Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ if it did.

Acura NSX GT3 racecar bares all in raw carbon

Acura slowly and dramatically revealed the NSX over a period of years. There were previews, concepts, and lots of teases before Acura finally showed us the whole thing. It's a different story for the racecar. And today, the wraps come off the FIA GT3-spec NSX to show all of its bare-carbon glory. The NSX GT3 strips away more than just the paint from the standard road car. The racecar comes sans hybrid system, meaning all the power from the twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6 is sent solely to the rear wheels. Modifications to the body include a large rear wing, underbody diffuser, and bigger hood vents for engine cooling. While the hybrid system may be gone, the NSX GT3 uses the same block, heads, valvetrain, crankshaft, pistons, and dry sump lubrication system as the road car. Power is sent through a six-speed sequential gearbox instead of the road car's nine-speed. The NSX GT3 will be built alongside the street version in Ohio. Honda engineers in Japan and North America shared in the development. Final GT3 homologation will be completed by the company's Honda Performance Division in Santa Clarita, CA. Related video:

2015 Honda Fit production gets underway in Mexico

After two years of construction, Honda's new factory in Celaya, Mexico, has officially begun production of the all-new 2015 Fit in North America. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and Honda President and CEO Takanobu Ito both attended the opening and watched the first Fit roll off the line at the $800-million plant. Later this year, Honda will add production of its new Vezel small crossover to the new facility, though the latter is expected to be marketed in North America under a new name.
The Celaya factory will specialize in building subcompact cars by employing cutting-edge tech to use less material and less energy during production. Honda is still constructing a $470-million transmission plant on the campus to build continuously variable transmissions in the second half of 2015. When it's finished, it is expected to have an annual capacity of 200,000 vehicles and employ 3,200 people.
With the facility's completion, Honda now has a 1.92-million unit annual production capacity in North America, and it claims that when Celaya reaches full production, 95-percent of vehicles sold in the US will be built in North America. The new Fit has already proven quite popular in Japan, and now we will have to wait and see if North American buyers embrace it as well. The first new Fit customer cars will hit the roads later this spring, and as Honda spokesman Steve Kinkade tells Autoblog, all Fit models sold in North American will be built at the plant. Scroll down to read the full press release about the Fit and its new Mexican home.