Monday 27th October

Pininfarina to 'redesign' original Honda NSX

Take one Honda icon, a legendary design house and some motorsport expertise for 2026's must-have restomod

---

Now this ought to be good. While everybody in the automotive aftermarket with a half decent Instagram following seems to have some kind of restomod project ongoing right now, certain names are still going to grab the attention a lot more than most. Like when Pininfarina says it’s going to make a carbon-bodied reimagination of the original Honda NSX. You want to know more, right? 

Especially as it’s being developed in conjunction with JAS Motorsport, one of the preeminent names in competition-grade Hondas and an official partner of the big H since 1998. So when the manufacturer was in Super Touring BTCC, JAS prepped the Accords. Didn’t matter if the touring car championship was British, European or World, JAS was there with a Honda - usually winning quite a bit, too. More recently, JAS has lent a hand in developing the outgoing NSX GT3 racer, and the FL5 flavour of Civic Type R TCR. When there’s a track-ready Honda in the making, chances are JAS has been consulted at some point along the way. And this is its first road car project. 

This new collaboration is a mouth-watering prospect then, two Italian powerhouses working their magic on a Japanese hero of the '90s. Begin with perhaps Honda’s most iconic car (certainly its most valuable), have it rebodied in carbon by one of the world’s best-known design companies, then handed over to Honda motorsport royalty so that performance can be brought up to a modern standard. No wonder little has been announced thus far, given how good that sounds already. The Pininfarina-JAS NSX (a proper name will follow) is to retain the glorious V6, now ‘engineered and developed to obtain the highest levels of power, torque and responsiveness.’ While left- and right-hand drive builds will be offered, only manual NSXs will be converted. Thank goodness. 

The rest of the package will include ‘refined mechanical elements derived from the world of motorsport’ to create what’s being called a ‘new, modern definition of Grand Touring concept that underpins the NSX’s DNA’. Expect it to be great on road and track, basically, without one compromising the other. Additional details are coming soon, with the full reveal due in the first half of next year. Just in case original NSX values need to rise any further…    

---

• Pininfarina collaborates on V12-powered Turbio
• Honda NSX-R | PH Heroes

[Skaben]

Hopefully they don't go to OTT with this...

[Super Sonic]

This could be the best Japanese/Italian car since the Alfa Romeo Arna

[Robertb]

Why not use the auto cars? Given its likely to be a million euros plus donor car and its an extensive remodelling then installing a manual box would be achievable?

[chrisironside]

Yes please.

[thegreenhell]

No, just no. Why does everything have to be 'reimagined' these days. Has humanity run out of original ideas?

And why are they only converting manual cars, when they are the most desirable ones? Idiots.

[Matt_T]

There are quite a lot of high-mileage Acuras with auto boxes in the USA and Canada - I would have thought that these would be the best donors.

[Kipsrs]

Ferrari, take note, this is how to do it! (IMO!!)

[Jinba Ittai]

Super Sonic said:

This could be the best Japanese/Italian car since the Alfa Romeo Arna

[willga]

Why do they need to 'reimagine' it, when Dome achieved perfection in 2007...?

[Slowlygettingit]

I hope pininfarina go all in on the restyle and not just minor tweaks on a basic rebody.
I always thought in keeping it daily usable it was a bit frumpy looking especially the front and the glass house.

[trackdemon]

willga said:

Why do they need to 'reimagine' it, when Dome achieved perfection in 2007...?

Nope, sorry. That'd be way too much for a road car. The pics up top hint they tightened it up, looks like a shorter rear overhang which was always the biggest flaw in an otherwise elegant profile. Modern stance, less straight lines and a it could look sensational. Will no doubt be 7 figures sadly....

[tallsopp]

Please let it be a subtle modification, otherwise don’t touch what’s already perfect.

[Water Fairy]

thegreenhell said:

No, just no. Why does everything have to be 'reimagined' these days. Has humanity run out of original ideas?

And why are they only converting manual cars, when they are the most desirable ones? Idiots.

Idiots?

Best you go and let them know about your immense expertise then! Looool

[havoc]

thegreenhell said:

And why are they only converting manual cars, when they are the most desirable ones? Idiots.

Because that way they don't have to source an elusive manual box, refurb it and convert the car to it. Would arguably slow-down what is an already very bespoke and manual conversion process.

Besides, it's not like there's a shortage of NA1's across the USA and Japan...think 10k and 8k cars in total across each market (auto/manual, NA1/NA2).

[biggbn]

trackdemon said:

willga said:

Why do they need to 'reimagine' it, when Dome achieved perfection in 2007...?

Nope, sorry. That'd be way too much for a road car. The pics up top hint they tightened it up, looks like a shorter rear overhang which was always the biggest flaw in an otherwise elegant profile. Modern stance, less straight lines and a it could look sensational. Will no doubt be 7 figures sadly....

I think the rear overhang made the design, gave it an almost long tail race car feel...

[glazbagun]

thegreenhell said:

No, just no. Why does everything have to be 'reimagined' these days. Has humanity run out of original ideas?

And why are they only converting manual cars, when they are the most desirable ones? Idiots.

This was my first thought. After 30 years Pinninfarina decide the NSX needs their help?

It strikes me more of astruggling design house latching on to someone elses legend rather than showing the world how bland the manufacturers are by showing them how it's done.

[nismo48]

Prefer the original one, but let's see what happens

[JJJ.]

Odds on it will be awesome dynamically but wouldn't feel hard done by if I could only afford an original.

[trackdemon]

havoc said:

thegreenhell said:

And why are they only converting manual cars, when they are the most desirable ones? Idiots.

Because that way they don't have to source an elusive manual box, refurb it and convert the car to it. Would arguably slow-down what is an already very bespoke and manual conversion process.

Besides, it's not like there's a shortage of NA1's across the USA and Japan...think 10k and 8k cars in total across each market (auto/manual, NA1/NA2).

Also the auto's have different engines - one of the other reasons to avoid like the plague other than it being a pretty slow acting slushmatic. They are rated 250bhp instead of the '286' (I put the quotes because we all know the japs were overstepping the gentlemans agreement back then) of the standard cars because the box couldn't handle the power of the 'proper' engine. Hence a 5.5ish vs 7.5ish 0-60 time difference but also it just robs the car of quite a lot of what makes them so enjoyable to drive - the shift, pedal placement and weighting are all sublime making h&t as natural as it could possibly be.

[havoc]

To be fair, if they're doing the sort of detailed engine-work that Singer do / commission externally (and I hope they do - NA with ITB's and a 9k redline is the only way to go here IMHO), they'll be changing cams, breathing and ECU at the very least...which are probably the only differences on the automatic version of the engine.

One other thought from me - I hope they don't redo the bodywork with the modern trend for slab-sidedness / skirts to the ground - I rather like the fact that the NSX looks svelte from the side with the chassis curling-under.