Honda Wants To Make A New S2000, But It’s Not That Simple

Enthusiast wish lists tend to circle back to the same question, which brands still make a simple, focused two-seater that feels built for weekends and back roads. Take a long, hard look at the Honda lineup, and there’s at least one thing missing: a hardcore performance coupe or roadster.

Read: Someone Paid $95K For A Virtually New Honda S2000 With Delivery Miles

For years, the S2000 filled that role in Honda’s lineup, a purpose that the much softer hybrid Prelude will never satisfy unless they come up with a wilder Type R version. Now, the company has hinted that the S2000 might return, though only after several pieces of the puzzle fall into place.

The Business Equation

According to Chief Engineer Tomoyuki Yamagami, the desire to revive the S2000 nameplate runs deep within Honda. As usual, the challenge comes down to numbers and resources.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Japan Mobility Show in Tokyo recently, Yamagami-san, who led development of the new Prelude, told Australian publication Drive that the S2000 remains close to Honda’s heart.

Illustration Luca Serafini

“Of course, everybody thinks so,” he said when asked if a second-generation model was on the table. “Every Honda employee loves S2000. Someday, I’d like to [build another one].”

The problem is that the S2000 is a high bar, and Honda won’t try to bring a modern version to market without ensuring it meets or exceeds that bar.

Right now, Honda has no platform that would suit an S2000 successor. That point led Yamagami to clarify that Honda wouldn’t collaborate with another brand on such a car, unlike Toyota’s partnerships with Subaru on the GR86 and with BMW on the GR Supra.

“We know what is expected from Honda [S2000], so what is important for us is to keep Honda’s DNA,” explained.

Can Honda Make The Math Work?

Beyond engineering, there’s the issue of price. “A conventional sports car is very expensive [to design, develop, and build], and the younger generation cannot afford [to buy them],” Yamagami explained. “A sports car, which has fewer quantity of production, causes [high] prices.”

More: New Prelude Does 0-62 In 7.2 With Launch Control Trick, Still Loses To Civic

When the original S2000 launched in 1999, it sold for around AU$69,950 in Australia, about AU$140,000 in today’s money, while here in the US, it started from $32,000, equivalent to around $61,573 after inflation.

Cars like the new Prelude benefit from both parts sharing and having a larger market. The automaker can sell it for what it does in part because it borrows from the Civic, from the platform to the hybrid powertrain and many things you don’t see.

The S2000, in contrast, was a purpose-built machine with an entirely unique layout and drivetrain. Its high-revving 2.0-liter F20C and later 2.2-liter F22C1 engines, both longitudinally mounted for rear-wheel drive, stand among the few Honda four-cylinders designed specifically for that setup.

Despite that, Honda says that people are still complaining that the new two-door HEV is too expensive.

More: New Prelude Costs More Than A Nissan Z With Twice The Power In Japan

“This new Prelude is created and produced and developed as a combination of the Civic, Civic Type R, and HEV, so we can decrease the price. “And still we received the feedback from buyers that it’s still too expensive.”

Put another way, Honda will need to find a way to justify the price of building a new S2000, and right now, it just can’t.