For Honda brand enthusiasts, the Type R moniker is typically the most apparent representation of performance-focused efforts from the Japanese manufacturer. As it turns out, Honda considers there to be room for an even more driver-focused segment above the hallowed Type R badge, and Type S variants of Acura models in North America, reports The Drive.
President of Honda Racing Koji Watanabe said that the brand should create higher-performance models than those which it currently offers, the website reported. “Today I cannot tell the exact plan yet, but yes, we should create such [a] kind of performance model together with HRC racing technologies. The American side (HRC US) already started developing performance parts,” he said.
Its motorsports arm in the United States, Honda Racing Corporation USA (HRC US) actually has started offering official performance parts through a new retail division for street, circuit and off-road applications, and Watanabe has clarified that HRC-borne performance-enhanced models will be based on existing Honda Type R and Acura models.
“We don’t have any concrete plan yet, but the first one would be based on the current existing models like the Integra Type S or Honda Type R,” he said told The Drive. Meanwhile, HRC US senior vice president Jon Ikeda said that a HRC-enhanced model would be even more performance focused than a Type R offering.
“You have the Type S or Type R for the road and [on the other end] you have a race car that you can buy for the track—so this would be something in between—right at the verge of where your significant other won’t want to ride with you,” Ikeda said.
Enticing news for the motorsports enthusiasts among its customer base, however both Watanabe and Ikeda told The Drive that these considerations are preliminary, and that there is not confirmed timeline for this endeavour.
GALLERY: Acura Integra Type S HRC Prototype
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