by Nostalgia and Modern Realities
Car enthusiasts’ wish lists often boil down to one question: which brands still produce simple, focused two-seater cars designed for weekend getaways and driving on winding roads. If you take a close look at Honda’s model lineup, it becomes obvious that it is missing at least one thing – a powerful coupe or roadster.
For years, the S2000 fulfilled this role in Honda’s lineup, a role that the much softer hybrid Prelude will never be able to satisfy, unless the company develops a crazier Type R version. Now the company has hinted that the S2000 could return, but only after all the necessary conditions are met.
Engineers’ Desires and Business Realities
According to Chief Engineer Tomoyuki Yamagami, the desire to revive the S2000 name runs deep within Honda. As always, the problem comes down to numbers and resources.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Japan Mobility Show in Tokyo, Yamagami-san, who led the development of the new Prelude, noted that the S2000 remains close to Honda’s heart.
“Of course, everyone thinks so. Every Honda employee adores the S2000. Someday I would like to [build another one].”
The problem is that the S2000 is a very high bar, and Honda will not attempt to bring a modern version to market without being sure that it meets or exceeds that bar.
Currently, Honda does not have a platform suitable for an S2000 successor. This point led Yamagami to clarify that Honda will not collaborate with another brand on such a car, unlike Toyota’s partnership with Subaru on the GR86 or with BMW on the GR Supra.
“We know what is expected from a Honda [S2000], so it is important for us to preserve Honda’s DNA.”
The Question of Economic Viability
Beyond engineering issues, there is the problem of price.
“An ordinary sports car is very expensive [to design, develop, and produce], and the younger generation cannot afford it. A sports car produced in smaller batches leads to [high] prices.”
When the original S2000 debuted in 1999, it cost about 69,950 Australian dollars in Australia, which is approximately 140,000 dollars in today’s money, while in the USA it started from 32,000 dollars, equivalent to about 61,573 dollars adjusted for inflation.
Cars like the new Prelude benefit from both shared components and a larger sales market. The manufacturer can sell it at its current price partly because it borrows from the Civic – from the platform to the hybrid powertrain and many unseen things.
The S2000, on the contrary, was a specially built car with a completely unique layout and powertrain. Its high-revving 2.0-liter F20C and later 2.2-liter F22C1 engines, both longitudinally mounted for rear-wheel drive, are among the few Honda four-cylinder engines specifically designed for such a configuration.
Despite this, Honda reports that people still complain that the new two-seater hybrid model is too expensive.
“This new Prelude is created, manufactured, and developed as a combination of the Civic, Civic Type R, and the hybrid version, so we can lower the price. And yet we have received feedback from buyers that it is still too high.”
In other words, Honda must find a way to justify the costs of creating a new S2000, and for now, it simply cannot do so.
Today’s car market is significantly different from what it was in the early 2000s when the S2000 was in its prime. The growing popularity of crossovers, stricter environmental requirements, and changing buyer priorities create additional obstacles for the return of niche sports models. Electric vehicle technologies might offer new opportunities for reviving such cars, but this would require even greater investments and engineering solutions that combine tradition with innovation.
