Honda announced on March 12 that production of its S660 roadster would come to an end, in March of 2022. That gave a year’s notice for anyone who wanted to buy one. Of course, this successor in name to the Honda S800 and in spirit to the Beat had been in production since 2015, so prospective buyers had plenty of time to pull the trigger. Nevertheless, by March 30 the entire remaining one-year run of the S660 had sold out.
There was much anticipation leading up to the S660’s release, and the car saw its best sales in the first two years of production. The debut year, 2015, saw 9,296 sales, but at its peak in 2016, Honda moved 10,298 of them. After that, sales dropped off significantly, to 4,075 in 2017, and about 3,000 or fewer for each of its remaining years.
Honda cited increasing safety and emissions regulations as reasons for the cancellation. It would not be able to accommodate the changes without a major redesisgn.
Now, armed with the knowledge that the chance to own a S660 will disappear forever, customers have flooded Honda’s ordering system with requests. Honda is also sending off the S660 with a special Version Z edition. The company also said that production could be extended demand was high enough. However, there’s been no word on whether that is the case.
I so wanted the S660 here in the US market. I still do. I wish Honda would do a small, affordable sports car for us here on the other side of the Pacific, a mini NSX of sorts. Sadly they never will. We are probably lucky they still have the Civic Si in the lineup here to be honest. I have been a loyal Honda guy for decades, so it hurts to see them marching down the same road to mediocrity that Toyota has followed for so very long.
Other than a few Honda Otaku, who would buy a car with with barely more than a (small) motorcycle engine’s worth of displacement that costs as much as a regular Civic?
Hate to say this, but little car sales in the US were so bad that Fiat, Smart, Ford, Mazda, and even Toyota pulled out of the market. (500, FourTwo, Fiesta, 2, Yaris)
Cool as they may be, Kei cars won’t see these shores unless they’re 25 years old.
I know. I am a realist, and sadly a distinct minority that actually likes small cars. Hell, I drove a TVR as a daily here in the midwest for a few years. It was indeed madness, but I was a lot younger then.
I still yearn for a small, two seater from Japan that has all the Japanese verities. Uber reliability, low mass, a smooth, high revving four cylinder engine, and a good manual gear box. I now the MX 5 is out there, but it’s price has creeped every upward. A new CRX would be a dream car for me.
Bloody phone keyboard… I know the MX 5…
heh!
To clarify, one of the reasons a Honda kei car would not do well in the US.
We are fully in on the age of speculative buying. I bet more than half of these will have less than 5,000 KM tens years from now when they start appearing on BAT..
And with clear plastic sheets still on the seats and door panels.
And what are the acceleration characteristics of the roadster. Maybe it’s not a roadster?