End of an era: Acura concludes production of handmade NSX supercar

Production of Acura's NSX supercar that the automaker credits with reviving the brand's sporty heritage has come to an end.

Workers at the Performance Manufacturing Center (PMC) in Marysville put the finishing touches on the 350th and final NSX Type S vehicle on Monday, concluding production of the second generation of the handmade car that began in 2016.

"It's kind of sad, yet we're also very proud of what we were able to do," said Jon Ikeda, Acura's brand officer.

The first generation of the NSX supercar, a term set aside for the highest-performing sports car, was assembled in Japan and sold from 1990 to 2007.

Honda built the PMC, just down the road from its Marysville Auto Plant, when it revived the model. It was the first high-performance vehicle of its type to be made by a Japanese automaker in the United States.

Acura has made other cars at the plant since, including the RDX PMC Edition, the TLX PMC Edition and MDX PMC Edition models, before taking on the NSX Type S last year. Like the NSX, just a few hundred cars of each model were made.

But the NSX has been the standout at PMC, making the car a showpiece for Ohio's auto industry and, at the same time, taking on European brands such as Ferrari and Lamborghini.

Unlike a typical mass-produced vehicle that moves on a motorized assembly line, the NSX is carted station to station, going from a bare metal frame to finished product with the 50 or so Honda technicians pulled from Honda's other plants in the region to work at PMC installing parts by hand.

"That's why we build them, because we can," said Gail May, who leads production at PMC. "We have the expertise. We have the technology. We have the craftmanship."

"We wanted to bring it back to its roots, which is precision, hand-crafted performance," Ikeda said of the NSX.

Production of the current version of the NSX was limited to 350 cars, with 320 going to North America and 30 to Japan. Each took 25 days to make.

All 350 cars are already sold. Starting price is $169,500. The Type S version comes with a new color, Gotham Gray matte paint.

Nearly 3,000 NSX cars have been made since production started at PMC in 2016.

Customers give workers cupcakes, hugs

What makes working at the PMC different than other Honda factories is that workers get to meet some of the customers who are buying the product the workers are making.

"I really enjoy meeting with the people who bought the car," said Susan Dulik, the plant's quality manager.

Acura allows buyers to come to the factory floor to watch some of their car being assembled and to talk with the technicians.

"We have customers that have already purchased it, and they want to tour the birthplace," May said.

Many visitors bring cupcakes, buy food and offer gifts to the workers, she said.

At the end of the tour, buyers can apply the finishing touch to their car: fastening an Acura emblem to the back of their NSX. (The version sold in Japan has a Honda emblem.)

"When they're getting ready to leave, they don't want to leave. They're hugging people," May said.

Customers stay in contact with the workers after their tour as well, emailing them and sending photos of their cars.

"That's what's really excited for us, that relationship," May said.

Acura credits NSX with reviving brand

Ikeda credits PMC and the NSX with doing what it was supposed to, which was giving Acura brand direction.

"Has it done its duty? I would say after seven years we could have never turned this brand around ... without this car. There's no way we could have gotten where we are," Ikeda said.

Stephanie Brinley, principal analyst for the business research and consultant firm IHS Markit, believes the car has helped Acura reconnect with its heritage and with buyers who have a strong attachment to the vehicle.

"It was a lovely, fun vehicle to drive," she said.

"You see it in the team," she said of the workers who assemble the vehicle. "That flows through to the customers too."

What's next for the PMC

With the NSX finished, the technicians next will make 300 of the 2023 TLX Type S.

That production should run through the middle of 2023. The car is expected to be priced in the low-to-mid $60,000 range.

After that, Honda is being coy about what is planned for PMC.

"After (the TLX Type S), we're not sharing that information," May said.

Brinley believes another sports car is on the horizon for PMC, this one an electric vehicle. The NSX is a hybrid.

"Higher-volume EVs have to come first, though, so we’ll see if there ends up appetite, both from Acura to support its precision-crafted performance mission and from the evolving EV enthusiast community, to support a new, modern Acura sports car," she said.

mawilliams@dispatch.com

@BizMarkWilliams

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Buyers tour plant, put finishing touches on their own NSX supercar