Canadian Honda exec shuts down hopes of a S2000 successor

Were you ever a fan of the Honda S2000? And as such, have you been waiting for its return? Well, prepare to be crushed. A Canadian executive from Honda has some bad news for you as he said that the roadster is dead.

His statement has then been supported by Hayato Mori, senior manager for product planning as he revealed to Auto Guide that the demand for the Honda S2000 is not high enough to revive the said vehicle. Mori also said in his statement that it is not easy to make money on such a sports car, especially with the growing popularity of crossovers.

In the United States today, there aren’t as many roadsters available, and the automaker is trying their best to make the available. Some of these models include: the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, BMW Z4, Chevrolet Corvette Convertible, Fiat 124 Spider, Mazda MX-5 Miata, Nissan 370Z, and Porsche 718 Boxster.

Roadsters like these may not make as much profit as SUVs, but they have an appeal to customers that no other crossover can offer.

For quite some time now, prospects of an S2000 have not been looking good. A few months ago, Takahiro Hachigo, Honda’s boss, actually said that a new roadster was possible, though he did not clarify it by stating that it won’t arrive in the near future. He cited the need for studies to prove that it is worth producing one, before they push through with a solid business plan.

The original S2000 was a simple and lightweight sports car that carried with it a 2.0 liter naturally aspirated four cylinder under its hood with an 8,800 rev redline. As for the United States model, it came with a slightly larger 2.2 liter displacement. Though torque output had been boosted here, redline has gone down to only 8,000 rpm. For the S2000’s full lineup, only a six speed manual was the available option.

It had an independent double wishbone suspension, lightweight manually operated roof, and 50-50 front and rear weight distribution. This model was actually considered to be one of the best handling vehicles in its class, so it is sad that the nameplate is dead and that we will not be seeing a successor of this model.

What’s odd is that Honda executives reacted to a blog that had a headline that said the Honda S2000 is “definitely never coming back”, and said that it was a bold and foolish move for the automaker to do such thing to such an iconic car. Well, it is now up to Honda to make an official statement on their final decision on what their actual plan is.