Revelations with Jason Cammisa

The Original Acura NSX Was Honda's Most Successful Failure (3x5)

Air date: Jul 27, 2023

This is the story of the first-generation Acura NSX, known in the rest of the world as the Honda NSX. The all-aluminum NA1-chassis NSX was developed as Honda was on top of the world — it had just begun an incredible string of Formula One victories, its Accord was the best-selling car in America, and its new Acura luxury brand was a resounding success. The NSX would be the company's flagship, demonstrating that Honda could apply its F1 know-how to a Ferrari-challenging, mid-engined supercar. It was received with near unanimous praise from the American automotive media, but ultimately the NSX struggled to find buyers for the majority of its 15-year production run. In this episode of "Revelations," automotive journalist Jason Cammisa takes us through the history of the original NSX and why, in retrospect, it was actually a success despite being unable to live up to its sales expectations — and how it differs from the second-generation, Ohio-engineered and -built NC1 hybrid.