Honda ramps up RHD NSX production

RIGHT-HAND drive production of the NSX hybrid supercar has kicked off at Honda’s high-tech production facility in the United States ahead of the first Australian deliveries to well-heeled buyers early next year.

The production centre, dubbed the Performance Manufacturing Centre (PMC) in Marysville, Ohio, will build examples of the NSX for all relevant markets, including US-spec cars that are sold under the company’s Acura premium sister brand.

Earlier this month Honda Australia announced a starting price of $420,000 plus on-road costs for the NSX, putting it in European supercar territory, but the company insists that the local version will be exceptionally well kitted out.

Honda Australia director Stephen Collins said the precise production methods employed for the NSX help ensure exclusivity.

“Not only is the NSX an example of precision Honda engineering and design, the Performance Manufacturing Centre in Ohio is a state-of-the-art facility that defines the brand,” he said.

“Everything about the NSX has an air of exclusive craftsmanship and Honda precision about it. The master technicians at the Ohio facility embody the company’s commitment to ensuring the NSX is truly worthy of its title as the world’s most exciting hybrid supercar.

“We’re very excited about the first customer cars arriving next year. The NSX will be exclusive, but an important halo car for the brand.”According to Honda, the PMC “was designed to blend human craftsmanship and advanced technologies” to ensure a superior build quality.

To ensure the highest levels of production quality, the facility employs “ground-breaking” techniques for welding, body construction and painting, final assembly and quality assurance.

The company says that 100 experienced master technicians and engineers working at the facility have developed 12 patent-pending technologies and other methods of producing a tech-laden car such as the new NSX.

Some of the innovative methods include “fully robotic MIG welding of the aluminium-intensive space frame, 14 hours of meticulous hand assembly by 16 highly skilled manufacturing technicians, and a dynamic performance testing and confirmation process drawn from the company’s extensive race experience”, Honda says.

The “surgical” welding process makes for a precise, lightweight and ultra-rigid space frame, according to the car-maker.

The NSX’s 3.5-litre twin-turbocharged V6 powertrain is hand-built at the company’s largest engine plant in nearby Anna, Ohio. The engine and the Twin Motor electric unit are installed at the PMC.

To make sure that each NSX is ready to hit the track as soon as owners take delivery, every example of the supercar is machine balanced, bench tested and broken-in to the equivalent of 200km of service.

An all-glass “quality confirmation centre” situated in the middle of the manufacturing floor allows technicians from each department to keep an eye on every aspect of car as it moves through the production process.

Honda has highlighted the hand-crafted nature of the NSX, with every bolt on the car hand started by a technician, all exterior body panels are manually installed from the inside of the car to ensure perfect side-to-side fitment and lasers are used to locate door hem edges, mudguards and door gaps so all exterior panels can be installed without needing adjustments.

Honda Australia is taking orders now for the NSX and it is believed that a number of cashed-up Aussies have already put their hard-earned to reserve an example of the company’s latest hero car.