For some, this discussion falls under the heading of "stunningly obvious." Let's review, nonetheless. The Acura NSX and Ford GT supercars that left fan boys drooling and swooning at auto shows these past few months are vanity projects.
Yet these lovely diversions aimed at boys with Sir Robert Bordens bending their platinum, diamond-studded money clips, also have practical purposes: They build brands, excite employees and the general market at large, act as product development and technology test beds and, if done right and marketed properly, they help car companies make bags of money.
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"We learn from a low-volume vehicle like the GT," says Ford of Canada president and CEO Dianne Craig. "It's a halo vehicle; it creates a lot of buzz in the industry."
It's also great fun, and even though the GT is not an electrified supercar like the NSX hybrid with its three electric motors, it is also a showcase for advanced technology both coming soon and already at work in Ford's lineup.
The EcoBoost engine, for instance, fits in with the other Ford EcoBoost engines. Ford has been banging the EcoBoost drum for half a decade, touting it as a fuel-saving technology without performance compromises. The carbon-fibre body? Lightweight and strong though expensive, carbon-fibre is a key arrow in the weight reduction quivers of all auto makers, not just Ford. As fuel economy demands become more stringent, you’ll see more carbon-fibre and aluminum in more models.
The arrangement with Multimatic Motorsports of Markham, Ont., which will build the GT? Multimatic is a long-standing partner in Ford’s racing programs, thus demonstrating Ford’s ability to work with small, ultra-focused suppliers.
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The GT name also matters; it’s not just some made-up moniker delivered by the ad department after a dart board competition.
“It’s part of our heritage,” Craig says, pointing to the GT cars Ford raced to great success at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the mid-1960s.
And did we mention: “It will go really, really quickly,” says Craig, grinning broadly, exuding sheer delight at the thought of it. Super cars are not only for fan boys, after all.
Yes, the GT is an image-booster with historical and technological bona fides. It’s a halo car that has Craig bubbling with excitement – a ride so hypnotically compelling, it casts a beatific glow to brighten and raise up all the Fords around and below it. Ford wants you to connect the dots between the GT and its $17,000-ish, 123-horsepower Fiesta subcompact with a thrifty 1.0-litre EcoBoost three-banger.
We are talking a lot of dots here. Ford sells hundreds of thousands of Fiestas worldwide. The GT with its expected 600 horsepower? Ford Americas president Joe Hinrichs said in New York that GT production will be limited to 250 cars a year. He also said the GT will be priced against other supercars in the $400,000 range.
Honda’s plan for the NSX is similar but different in important ways. It’s also a heavenly ride, but most importantly, the NSX wears an Acura badge. It’ll be sold only at Acura dealerships, with not a single Fiesta-fighting Honda Fit in sight. It is critical to a brand fighting for respect.
What makes this NSX so intriguing is how such an impossibly low and sleek machine combines so many of the technologies available in Acura and Honda models – technologies that perhaps many shoppers overlook, ignore or perhaps undervalue, say Honda officials.
“When you have a supercar, the number of people that are actually going to end up driving our NSX is not such a big number,” says Honda Canada senior vice-president Dave Gardner. “But if you’re looking for (the NSX’s) super-handling all-wheel drive, well, you can get that in an (Acura) MDX. That dual-clutch technology (in the NSX), hey, we have that in the (Acura) ILX.
“So there’s a little bit of that DNA in every model.”
This is a proven strategy. In 1989, Acura stunned the Chicago auto show with a prototype called the NS-X – New, Sportscar, eXperimental. The mid-engine production model was heavily influenced by Honda’s motorsports division.
It was low and sexy, with seating for just two, an aluminum body, an aluminum V-6, and steering and handling that benefited from extensive testing input from Formula One champ Ayrton Senna – the brilliant Brazilian who drove Honda power to three F1 championships before his tragic death in 1994. So the NSX has its own racing heritage, just like the GT.
When the first-generation NSX hit Japanese showrooms in early 1990, Honda’s flagship model was the rather pedestrian Prelude. For its 1991 North American launch, the NSX landed in Acura showrooms filled with re-badged Hondas like the Legend and the Integra. The NSX was a sensation. Instantly, Acura’s lineup gained by association with this sleek sports car wearing the Senna stamp.
“We sold the last one, I think, in 2005 and since that time has there been something missing? I think so. I think this (new NSX) re-establishes what the DNA is all about,” says Gardner.
Gardner and Klaus insist, however, that this NSX – like the original – will give the Acura brand a boost for not just good looks and innovative technology. What separates this NSX from other super halos is not just the relatively affordable price – expected to be in the $150,000-$200,000 range – but the whole user-friendliness of the thing.
“I believe that for some of our competitors, it’s really more about the machine – the human manages the machine,” says Klaus. “For us, that’s upside down. For us, the focus is not on the machine, but the human. We want to bring the machine closer to the driver.”
And like Ford with its GT, jolt the brand upwards and bring shoppers into showrooms.
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