An NSX cabrio and a modern-day S800, Honda reveals 2 more previously unseen sports car concepts

Following up on the two previously unseen sports car concepts, Honda has revealed 2 more concepts that were once only shown to internal eyes at the company’s Wako Design Centre.

Previously, Honda unearthed a couple of mid-engined sports car concepts from the 1970s and 1990s but this time, it’s showing a couple more from the 2000s. Both sports cars are convertibles but with very different visions – one seems primed for the luxury market while the other pays tribute to its past.

Beginning with the former which is dubbed the “V6 Mid-engine Open Sport” from 2003, this concept car sounds like a proposed successor to the first-generation Honda NSX which was entering its 13th year of production.

Also read: 33 years ago, the Honda NSX changed the supercar world forever

As written on the label, the concept is said to be powered by a V6 engine mounted in the middle. That layout sounds similar to that of the NSX which makes the successor proposal theory stick.

While the NSX has a coupe or a targa-top design, this proposal shows a cabriolet concept with a metal folding roof. 20 years ago, not many convertibles offered a metal folding roof as it is costly to make.

Perhaps that is the reason why Honda decided to cancel the project with nothing beyond the clay modelling and prototype stage. Besides, Honda would eventually reveal a few proposed next-gen NSX concepts publicly in the next decade before the second-generation NSX finally entered production in 2016.

Also read: Sayonara Honda NSX - Honda discontinues the hybrid supercar in Japan

Personally, I don’t like the design of the supposed next-gen NSX cabriolet concept but the next and final Honda concept looks like a missed opportunity. The 2004 Small Open Sports concept was proposed to be Honda’s entry sports car, sitting below the S2000.

Like the V6 Mid-engine concept from a year earlier, the Small Open Sports concept also has a folding metal hardtop but is smaller in size. Still, it’s not meant to be a kei car despite the miniature looks as underneath it is a turbocharged 3-cylinder 800-cc unit.

Also read: Meet the kawaii kei sports cars of the nineties

According to Honda, the Small Open Sports is designed to be a modern version of the S800, the S500’s sibling with a bigger engine and one of Honda’s first globally exported cars.

Also read: This tiny Honda S360 is founder Soichiro's middle finger to Japan’s MITI

Aside from the engine displacement and the front bonnet bulge, the small concept looks very modern and the design still holds 20 years later. Much better than the V6 convertible in fact.

When it went to the prototype stage, the concept was called the SS but it was never shown publicly and the entire project was cancelled. Honda would revisit the entry sports car proposal and would launch the mid-engine S660 kei sports car in 2015.

Also read: The Honda S660 was once nearly launched in Malaysia, so what killed it?

These two as well as the previously shown concept cars were glimpses into some of the visionary concepts that never made the cut. While these dreams have certainly never come true, it’s nice that some carmakers like Honda are willing to reveal some of these design proposals to the public as a glimpse behind the development of some of our favourite cars.

Also read: The other NSXs that never happened, Honda reveals 2 previously unseen mid-engine sports car concepts