The Honda NSX, marketed in North America as the Acura NSX, is a two-seater, rear mid-engined, rear-wheel drive sports car manufactured by Honda.
The origins of the NSX trace back to 1984, with the HP-X (Honda Pininfarina eXperimental) concept, for a 3.0 L (180 cu in) V6 rear mid-engine, rear-wheel drive sports car. Honda, with the intention of meeting or exceeding the performance of the then V8 engine Ferrari range, committed to the project, aiming at both reliability and a lower price. The concept evolved and had its name changed to NS-X, which stood for "New", "Sportscar" "eXperimental", although the production model was launched as the NSX.
Gordon Murray, the designer of the McLaren F1 supercar, stated that he used the NSX as the inspiration after test driving many high-performance cars and finding that the NSX chassis performed the best. Murray found the design was "monumental" for sportscar design. He claimed the car could "easily" have handled more power and attempted to convince Honda to develop a more powerful engine, but Honda declined. This resulted in Murray developing his F1 with a BMW engine, but he was so fond of the NSX that he bought one for personal use - and drove it for 75,000 kilometres (47,000 mi). Murray said the NSX was "dear to his heart".
