honda-s660-concept

The new ‘ND’ generation Mazda MX-5 was unveiled to the world late last year. We’re now in 2015 and we still don’t know any more about it than we did back then. We don’t have any official specs on engines, power and torque, or even when it’ll go on sale. Mazda have been very tight lipped about their latest sports car, the same can’t be said about Honda. Not that that’s a bad thing.

We saw it first as the EV-STER Concept at the 2011 Tokyo Motor Show, then again as the S660 Concept at the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show. Now it seems we can finally see it as the S660 production car, sort of. These photos have been leaked online and they appear to be from a brochure or spec sheet of some sort. Either way this is the first good look we’ve got of Honda’s successor the fantastic Beat kei sports car from the 1990s.

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It seems Honda has kept the S660’s design true to the concept car’s. Both look pretty much identical bar some minor tweaks to make it road legal. The same NSX face remains, as does the spyder-esque buttresses on the rear. The roof is a fabric soft top to keep weight down, no trick metal origami roof here. There’s some CR-Z inspiration in the design of the rear but not too much that it doesn’t give the S660 it’s own unique look. Six colours will be available but only one should be chosen; yellow. Inside it’s pleasingly basic, how a proper sports car should be. A steering wheel, a manual gearstick, two seats, some dials, air con. and somewhere to put your smartphone. That’s all you get and all you need.

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Like the Beat before it, the S660 falls under Japan’s kei car regulations. That means it can’t be longer than 3400mm long, no wider than 1480mm, and produce no more than 63bhp from a 660cc three-cylinder engine. That said, the S660 only weighs around 810kg so it should still be able to provide a fun motoring experience. Unlike its only direct rival, the Daihatsu Copen, the S660’s USP is it’s mid-engine rear wheel drive layout. In many ways one of think of this is a baby NSX. Okay, ‘baby’ might be pushing it a bit. This is more foetus-sized.

So what we have here is a small, handsome, rear-wheel drive convertible from Honda. Best thing is it’ll be available with either a CVT or a 6-speed manual! Pricing or even a date of release is still unknown at this point. As the Honda S600 was launched 50 years this year it’d be fitting for the S660 to be launched sometime in 2015. It’s safe to assume Honda are definitely getting their mojo back. About bloody time. Unfortunately if you want one you’ll have to move to Japan as there are no plans to export it at this stage.

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Ken Saito
Words cannot begin to describe how much I love cars but it's worth a try. Grew up obsessed with them and want to pursue a career writing about them. Anything from small city cars to the most exotic of supercars will catch my attention.

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