MARYSVILLE, Ohio -- Honda Motor Co. said today it will invest $70 million to convert a former seat plant here to assemble the next-generation Acura NSX.

The plant will be staffed with about 100 specially trained production workers and equipped with robots to build the gasoline-electric hybrid sports car, Honda said.

The 184,000-square-foot plant, to be called the Performance Manufacturing Center, is adjacent to Honda of America Manufacturing Inc.'s Marysville plant that assembles the Honda Accord and Acura TL sedans.

Workers will be recruited from within the company to build the all-wheel-drive NSX.

No forecast

Honda has not given a sales forecast for the new NSX, which is to be launched in 2015.

The size of the production crew and the vehicle's complex lightweight body structure suggest Honda plans to build the car in limited numbers and keep it exclusive.

"There will be exclusive weld, paint and assembly, and vehicle service departments," said Clement D'Souza, the associate chief engineer at Honda of America Manufacturing who will oversee production of the car.

Honda of America CEO Hidenobu Iwata said Honda chose Marysville for the new NSX in part because of the engineering and manufacturing talent it has nurtured in 30 years of building cars in Ohio.

"The location of this facility is in the midst of one of the greatest collections of engineering talent in the world," Iwata said today at a plant ceremony.

The car will have an electric motor on each front wheel and a gasoline engine combined with a dual-clutch transmission behind the driver that turns the rear wheels.

Honda officials released few details on the car. They did not talk about prices, marketing plans or launch schedules. However, the car will be built in both right- and left-hand drive and will be sold around the world. The car will be called the Honda NSX in markets where Acura is not sold.

Iwata said Honda decided to bring back the NSX because the company wants to showcase its engineering and technology. He said, speaking through an interpreter, that the high-powered car will be very fuel efficient and would not affect Honda's corporate average fuel economy goals.

Multimaterial body

"It's going to be a multimaterial body. It will have steel, aluminum and carbon fiber and maybe more. This car will perform on a level of a Ferrari or even a higher-level vehicle," said Ted Klaus, large project leader for the NSX.

The vehicle's V6 powertrain, dual clutch transmission and electric motors are likely to come from Japan, and many of the body pressings will come from other Honda facilities.

Honda built the first-generation NSX in Japan from 1990 to 2005. It was a low-slung, lightweight aluminum-bodied coupe packed with technology, but the car never sold in large numbers.

About 9,000 NSXs were sold in the United States of the 18,685 built.

Honda is resurrecting the NSX sports car to help pump new marketing and product life into Acura, which trails rivals BMW, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz and Cadillac in sales.

Honda says the NSX powertrain -- a mid-mounted V-6 engine paired with an all-wheel drive hybrid system -- will be assembled at the company's engine plant in Anna, Ohio.

Through April, Acura's U.S. sales have advanced 14 percent to 48,852 in an overall market that has climbed 7 percent.

Acura's car sales have advanced just 1 percent this year while truck volume has surged 30 percent, with the redesigned RDX crossover accounting for the bulk of the gains.

Honda officials want to strengthen and reinforce the brand's luxury footing and create more emotional ties with U.S. consumers.

In March, Honda assigned a new advertising agency, Mullen of Boston, to oversee the Acura account.

"We have a very clear understanding of the high customer expectations luxury buyers around the world have for a supercar, and our challenge is to exceed them and create new value for the customer," Klaus said. "This new Performance Manufacturing Center will be key to this challenge."

Performance cars are about to enter a new era, one destined to be dominated by vehicle electrification, and in typical fashion it is the world of motorsport where the technology has been bred. It should come as little surprise then that the first round of electrified performance cars is coming from automakers heavily involved in motorsports, namely, Ferrari, McLaren and Porsche. However, Acura, too, is working on an electrified performance car of its own, a new hybrid sports car that will revive its storied NSX badge. The new NSX will be nothing like the original, though that is to be expected since the NSX has always been about incorporating the latest technology.
It will still feature a mid-mounted V-6 engine, but this time around it will come with a trio of electric motors, a dual-clutch transmission and a through-the-road hybrid all-wheel-drive setup. Two concept versions have already been shown, though we’re yet to see any working prototypes.
The new NSX will also be engineered and built in the U.S., at a new wing (called the Performance Manufacturing Center) under construction at Honda’s existing R&D center in Marysville, Ohio. The team behind the NSX explains that the car is first and foremast an Acura, and since the U.S. is the primary market for Acura it is only natural the car is developed here.
100 specialist staff to work on new NSX
Acura is also keen to showcase the talents of its North American operations. A dedicated crew of around 100 specialist staff, led by chief engineer Ted Klaus, will work on the new NSX. Klaus’s first project at Acura was the 1993 Integra and he has since worked on model lines such as the CL, TL and MDX, primarily in chassis development.
For the new NSX, Klaus and his team will focus on an extremely favorable power-to-weight ratio as well as advanced technology. The key to the car’s performance will be its hybrid system, which Acura dubs the Sport Hybrid Super-Handling All-Wheel-Drive system (Sport Hybrid SH-AWD).
Two electric motors are used to power the front wheels independently and a third, integrated with a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission and 3.5-liter V-6, helps power the rear wheels. Powering the three electric motors is a central lithium-ion battery, topped up with regenerative brakes.
The setup allows multiple driving modes, including electric- or gas-only modes plus a hybrid mode calling on both electric and gas power. The sophisticated setup utilizes a bilateral torque control system to instantly generate negative or positive torque to the front wheels during cornering, helping with stability.

Ted Klaus and the original Acura NSX

All about the driver experience In a phone interview, Klaus said there are plenty of other technologies available to Acura, such as the four-wheel-steering system introduced on the 2014 RLX, but couldn’t confirm if this would feature on the new NSX.
As for performance, Klaus didn’t reveal any numbers but said a lot of emphasis was being placed on the “driver experience.” He went on to explain that the hybrid technology was a key factor for improving the experience.
“When the driver pushes on the throttle, the electric motor is there creating a response that is consistent with a lightweight, low-mass vehicle,” he said. “Torque-vectoring will also play a role.”
Soon, the first prototypes will commence real-world testing. Engineers will be taking them to most major North American race tracks as well as the legendary Nürburgring. Competitors will include cars like the Porsche 911 and Audi R8, though Acura hopes to differentiate the NSX through technology. Klaus said we can expect some new developments in materials and chassis design for the NSX in addition to its hybrid system.
Development of the new car remains on track, which means we can expect it in showrooms sometime in 2015. Hopefully we’ll have our first spy shots soon.

As expected, Klaus was unable to give us pricing. However, he dropped more than a few hints when he stated that the upcoming NSX will offer "the value of a Ferrari" but with amazing affordability "within the range of a Porsche 911." That's a big spread.