The Honda S2000 20th Anniversary Prototype will take a bow at the 2020 Tokyo Auto Salon.
If you haven’t noticed, nostalgia for the 1990s is at an all-time high. Fashion is getting grungy again, Disney is reviving 30-year-old franchises left and right, and ’90s cars are surging in popularity on the classic car market. Not only that but with American car brands mostly focusing on regulation- and bottom line-pleasing crossovers and SUVs and Japanese and other Asian manufacturers leaning into performance models, it looks like we’re in a similar situation we saw in the fallout years after the Malaise era.
While the number of SUVs and crossover models from around the world seemingly multiply by the day and brands like Ford declaring its intent to wipe sedans and hatchbacks from its lineup entirely, the future looks bleak and bland. However, there are rays of hope from the likes of Toyota, Hyundai, Kia, and possibly Honda. Toyota, of course, brought back the long-awaited, much-hyped Supra, but it’s also expanding the performance-driven TRD lineup to the Camry, Avalon, and (fingers crossed) the Corolla hatchback. Kia came out of nowhere and stunned the masses with the Stinger GT. Meanwhile, Hyundai is running in the World Rally Championship and just picked up a Performance Car of the Year Award from Road and Track.
It’s not all empty marketing. This generation of performance cars from across the Pacific can actually dance on track and are earning a respectable reputation while doing so. Now, you’d think the announcement of the S2000 20th Anniversary Prototype, set to take a bow at the Tokyo Auto Salon next month, is a hint Honda wants to get in on the action, but it’s nothing more than an updated body kit, celebrating the car’s birthday.
It’s understandable for Honda to shy away from a low-volume sports car, but the athletic image Honda likes to lean on every so often is in danger of living in the shadows of its neighboring manufacturers. The Civic Type-R can only do so much of the heavy lifting before Honda’s reputation and the way the market views them changes entirely. Yes, manufacturers should develop environmentally conscious vehicles and as a manufacturer of that size, it has to appeal to a larger audience, but it also must be cognizant of the image it sells versus the cars it actually. If Honda brags about its storied history of race winning machines, yet have none on the road, it’ll come off just like that star high school quarterback who peaked senior year and never left his hometown.
If Honda is smart, it’ll use the S2000 20th Anniversary Prototype as a barometer for interest. Back in ‘99 when the first S2000 hit the streets its 2.0-liter engine cranked out 247 hp and 161 lb-ft of torque screamed all the way to a 9,000 rpm redline. A hypothetical third-generation S2000 wouldn’t have to go too far beyond that to stay competitive in 2020. And with the number of performance cars coming from that region, it wouldn’t be such a wild notion either. Honda has a genuine chance to bring back a beloved car and it seems like 2020 is the perfect time for an S2000 revival.
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