A few weeks ago the famed carrozzeria Italdesign teased a Honda NSX-based tribute car. Now, another legendary Italian design firm, Pininfarina, has released images of its take on the iconic Japanese supercar. It’s a limited production road car that seeks to redefine the NSX for the modern age.
To modernize the NSX, the Pininfarina-designed body will be made of carbon fiber. From the images we can see that signature elements of the original NA1 chassis are faithfully replicated — the black canopy, pop-up headlights, and bridge spoiler. However the body has been updated and appears to be wider overall. New features include a large hood duct for downforce, reshaped cooling vents on the sides, and nifty gradient taillights that look like a stylized 80s sunset.
Beneath the new body is a drivetrain and chassis engineered by Italy’s JAS Motorsports. The firm was established in 1995 to build race cars for ITM and DTM, the Italian and German touring car series. They started with Alfa Romeos but moved on to Hondas, and now build Civics and Civic Type Rs for TCR-class competition and NC1 NSXs for GT3.
The NA1 tribute will be JAS’s first road car. Each one will need a donor NSX and can be ordered in left- or right-hand-drive. Power will come from a naturally aspirated V6 and funneled through a six-speed manual. Exact horsepower and torque figures haven’t been disclosed, but given JAS’s experience in building race engines it’s safe to say it’ll likely have more than the 1990 model’s 270 horses.
The NSX tribute promises to stay true to the philosophy Honda laid out for the original: “Its quality is determined by whether or not it inspires enthusiasm in the driver.” Details, including the name, are yet to be finalized. A public unveiling is scheduled for the first half of 2026. Incredibly, we could have two rival NSX tribute cars on the market simultaneously, both styled by famed Italian design houses.
The pictures are dim lit and there are not much of them but it looks to be really faithful to the original car, which is beautiful as is, and modernized via some curves and lighting without going over the top, I hope we will see more of it!
The taillight is a kind of thing I wish I could do to my nostalgic car, I really dig this look.
Another cash grab trying to fix what isn’t broken. Let old cars be old. I’ve been lucky enough to have spent quite a bit of time in a 1st gen NSX and it doesn’t need bigger wheels, ugly LEDs, or really anything beyond a nice exhaust
Agree. The whole FJ thing is out of control.
If it is a “tribute” car then why does it need an existing nsx? Then it is a restomod. A tribute would be like the stratos replicas and start from scratch.
Can’t wait to see this. Pininfarina no longer does the styling for Ferrari and I feel the current in-house designs don’t look good anymore. When the first gen NSX was bult, it was to compete against Pininfarina styled Ferraris. Now Pininfarina is styling their former competition, which shows how good the original NSX styling was. My favorite Pininfarina styled Ferraris are the 512 BB, 308 GTB (became 288 GTO), 80s Testarossa, and F40.
Finally, a NSX that improves upon the original… except for the looks, I still think I prefer the original. Should feel and perform better than the NSX-R. What the NC1/2 shoulda coulda been.