by Noah Joseph
New roadster from Honda could be based on Fit/Jazz.
Back in the early 90s, Honda
made a small mid-engined, rear-drive roadster called the Beat, a tiny
Kei car roadster designed by Pininfarina. It was the last car overseen
by company founder Soichiro Honda before he died, when Honda's current
president Takanobu Ito was working on developing the original NSX. "I
was kind of envious of the little cute sports car," admitted Ito in a
recent speech in the United States, in which the Japanese auto exec
revealed that Honda would bring revive the Beat with a new compact
sports car.
We first reported on plans for a Honda Beat revival back in June 2011,
when it seemed that the roadster would be based on the CR-Z hybrid
sport-hatch. Now it seems, however, that the Beat will more likely
borrow its underpinnings from the Fit with a design derived from the
EV-STER and OSM concepts, though its powertrain could go either
conventional or hybrid. One way or another, don't expect the Beat to
retain the mid-engine/rear-drive layout of its predecessor, as the new
roadster is more likely to go front-drive. Whether that proves enough
for Honda to take on the likes of the Subaru BRZ/Toyota GT86/Scion FR-S, or even the Mazda MX-5 Miata, remains to be seen.
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