A sleek and powerful hybrid sports car concept that Honda Motor Co. unveiled last year at the Tokyo Auto Show could be the basis of a real production car from Acura.
If given the go-ahead, the car--code-named the DN-X--would turn heads not only because of its looks but also because it would show that hybrids don't have to be automotive milquetoasts.
The concept car used a 300-horsepower V-6 coupled with a 100-horsepower electric motor to give it the performance of a 400-horsepower muscle car with excellent fuel economy.
It's not quite what the Sierra Club had in mind when it awarded Honda its first endorsement of an automotive product at the introduction of the Insight hybrid in Los Angeles a few years ago. But Honda officials say making hybrid power systems available across a broad spectrum of product types -- including performance cars -- is the best way to win widespread consumer acceptance.
A high-output gas engine, even in a Honda, is not going to be emission-free, but it could garner a low-emission vehicle or even a super-ultra-low-emission vehicle rating, depending on how it is tuned. And when augmented with a high-torque electric motor that will provide lots of boost during acceleration, the system shown on the DN-X could achieve average fuel economy of 42 miles per gallon.
Not bad considering most 400-horsepower cars and trucks are doing well these days if they hit 15 mpg.
The concept, which was called the Honda Dualnote when it was shown at Tokyo and became the Acura DN-X this year at the New York Auto Show, uses the gasoline engine to drive the rear wheels and the electric motor to drive all four wheels. Honda has used the same system -- with a smaller gas engine -- in a concept sport utility vehicle, the RDX hybrid, shown this year at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
Acura spokesman Mike Spencer, at American Honda Motor Co. in Torrance, says there's been no decision on a production version of either concept, but repeats what top Honda officials have said several times in the last two years: The company wants to go beyond its present hybrid offerings, the two-seat Insight and the five-seat Civic Hybrid, with gas-electric powertrain technology.
"It could be an all-wheel-drive system" suitable for a hybrid SUV derived from the RDX concept "or an all-wheel-drive, high-performance system" such as that shown on the Dualnote/DN-X "or both," he said, leaving open the likelihood that both an SUV and a sports car are on the table but offering little clue as to which might be first.
