Honda Sports EV coupé to enter production in 2022?

For a company with such a rich history in driver-oriented machinery, Honda sports cars are exceedingly rare, with the NSX, Civic Type R (if you could call it a sports car) and S660 being the only ones to have come out over the past ten years. And that last one will soon no longer be with us, with production ending on the two-seater kei roadster in March next year.

However, a new report suggests that a new fun-to-drive electric coupé will take its place in showrooms. According to Japan’s Car Sensor, Honda will finally build the Sports EV immediately after the S660 run comes to an end, five years after the concept debuted at the 2017 Tokyo Motor Show. Now, rumours of new sporty Hondas crop up seemingly every ten seconds, so take this report with a pinch of salt.

This latest news does appear to be grounded in reality, however – the car is said to be based on the Honda e hatchback. The latter was costly to develop with a dedicated rear-wheel drive platform and all-round independent MacPherson strut suspension, and it would be a waste to confine those expensive components to an urban runabout, said the publication.

Honda filed a patent for this sports car design in 2019

The report stated that development is progressing as planned, with prototypes even said to have entered and exited Honda’s Aoyama headquarters in Tokyo. Design patents filed in Japan in 2019 give us a glimpse of what the production Sports EV could look like, with images showing sleeker, more cab-forward styling reminiscent of a mid-engined supercar.

Whichever form the car will take, it will hopefully have more power and range compared to the e, which has a maximum of 113 kW (154 PS) and a range of only 220 km from its 35.5 kWh lithium-ion battery.

GALLERY: Honda Sports EV Concept at the 2017 Tokyo Motor Show