Honda S660

The Honda S660 is a sports car in the kei class manufactured by the Japanese company Honda from 2015 until 2022. It is a two-seater with a targa top and a transverse mid-engine and rear-wheel-drive layout. It is the successor to the Honda Beat (with regard to segment), and the Honda S2000 (with regard to nomenclature, as it also belongs to Honda's family of "S" models).

Overview

The S660 is a lightweight mid-engined roadster with a targa roof. Its dimensions, due to kei car size restrictions, are nearly identical to the 1990s Beat. It is sold with either a 6-speed manual transmission or a 7-speed CVT with sports paddle shifters, both options being offered on the two trims available (Alpha and Beta). The S660 weighs approximately 830 kg with the manual transmission and 850 kg with the CVT, and have a front/rear weight balance of 45/55.

The naming convention of using the letter "S" followed by the engine displacement is a long-held Honda tradition going back to Honda's second production car, the Honda S500 (from which the S660 draws inspiration).

Performance

The S660 is powered by the same turbocharged 658 cc S07A Turbo engine used in the N-One with some mechanical improvements. In the S660, this engine is mid-mounted and produces 47 kW (63 hp; 64 PS) at 6,000 rpm and 104 N⋅m (77 lbf⋅ft) of torque at 2,600 rpm with a redline of 7,700 rpm for the manual transmission and 7,000 rpm for the CVT.

Development and launch

The development team of the S660 was led by Ryo Mukumoto, who beat out 400 other participants in Honda's in-house competition at the age of 22. Honda made him the youngest lead engineer in the company's history in spite of his lack of engineering experience, and he was given 5 years to develop the S660.

A prototype was shown at the November 2013 Tokyo Motor Show. The prototype and proposed production announcement were widely covered in auto enthusiast news sites and blogs. Initial reactions to the concept were favorable.

First photographs

The prototype S660 was photographed by car enthusiasts at a wintertime car event in early 2015 and published in the Japanese car enthusiast magazine Mag-X, and subsequently republished in the US car blog The Truth About Cars. The pictures included several exterior photos and one of the opened engine compartments.

Production

After the S660 entered the market, its first driving review was in June 2015 of a Japanese-market prototype driven by Top Gear in Tokyo. The author concluded that the car was "supremely maneuverable" but lacked power, something he hoped an export model with a larger motor would amend and felt that such an export model might be a potential Mazda MX-5 competitor.

Discontinuation

Production of the S660 ended in March 2022.

Partial production by year:

• 2015 - 9,296
• 2016 - 10,298
• 2017 - 4,075
• 2018–2022 - about 3,000 or fewer each year.

Gallery

References

External links

• Official website
• Tokyo Auto Show 2013 S660 press kit (in Japanese) pg 1, 2