MARYSVILLE, Ohio — Honda will build its Acura NSX supercar and assemble its performance engine here starting next year.

About 100 workers from Honda's other Marysville operations will be chosen to make the NSX. The engine will be assembled at its nearby Anna, Ohio, engine plant.

Ohio will be the sole source of the sports car that will be sold as an Acura in North America and a Honda in the rest of the world.

Honda is spending $70 million to transform a former logistics center into what it calls a Performance Manufacturing Center. Honda of America Chief Executive Hidenobu Iwata and Ohio Gov. John Kasich unfurled a banner proclaiming the building as the "Future Home of the Acura NSX."

"We have an outstanding team of engineers just down the road who will lead the development of the NSX," Iwata said in a speech. "It makes sense that we will renew the dream and build this high-tech, supercar right here in Marysville, Ohio."

The original NSX was Honda's first car with an all-aluminum body. It was built at Honda's Takanezawa, Japan, plant from 1990 to 2004 when production moved to its Suzuka, Japan, plant for a year.

Honda sold about 18,000 over 15 years, but sales fell to a few hundred, which led to the decision to discontinue the NSX in 2005. Enthusiasts have called for its return ever since.

The 184,000 square-foot Performance Manufacturing Center will be Honda's third auto assembly plant in Ohio. Unlike the Marysville and East Liberty, Ohio, plants, the new facility will have less automation. Much of the car and its engine will be hand built.

"In the coming days, we will begin to transfer about 100 associates from other plants to this project," Iwata said. Honda executive Clement D'Souza will lead the production team.

Motor Trend estimates the NSX will be a $130,000 hybrid with a 3.7-liter V6 and three electric motors combining for 480 horsepower. Honda has only confirmed that it is a mid-mounted V6 that will be mated to an all-wheel-drive system.

John Spoltman, manager of the Anna plant, said the engine will be built on a separate line by workers who will be rewarded to produce it.

Honda was the first Japanese automaker to assemble vehicles in the United States, beginning in 1982. Last fall Honda marked the 30-year anniversary of the Accord rolling off the Marysville line.

In three decades, Honda has invested more than $12.3 billion in the U.S., including $8 billion in Ohio. The 900 engineers in Ohio are taking on increased responsibility for global development of Honda vehicles — including the NSX under chief engineer Ted Klaus — and the next-generation Civic for 2016.

Honda's seven plants in North America — which also include Alliston, Ontario; Greensburg, Ind.; Lincoln, Ala.; and Russells Point, Ohio — can produce 1.63 million vehicles a year. That will grow to 1.92 million cars when a new $800 million plant in Celaya, Mexico, starts production in 2014.

Acura NSX Production Site Selected in Ohio

Located Near Honda’s R&D Center, Facility to Employ 100 Highly Skilled Associates

Acura today announced that the all-new NSX supercar will be produced at a new Performance Manufacturing Center in Ohio, a $70 million advanced production facility encompassing 184,000 square feet to be housed inside Honda’s former North American Logistics facility and located in the midst of Honda’s existing R&D and production engineering operations.

The site for the new production facility, which will be Honda’s third auto plant in Ohio, is only a few miles from the Honda R&D Americas, Inc. Ohio Center that is engineering the supercar for production and adjacent to Honda of America Mfg.’s Marysville Auto Plant. The Performance Manufacturing Center also is close to Honda Engineering North America, Inc., center for the development of new production technologies.

A part of Honda of America, the Performance Manufacturing Center will be a unique manufacturing operation that will employ approximately 100 highly skilled manufacturing associates drawn from within Honda’s existing operations in Ohio. In addition, associates at Honda’s engine plant in Anna, Ohio, will assemble the NSX powertrain.

“Thirty years ago, building cars in America was a big dream. Working together, here in Ohio and across North America we turned this dream into reality,” said Hidenobu Iwata, president & CEO of Honda of America and the head of Honda’s manufacturing operations in North America. “The location of this facility is in the midst of one of the greatest collections of engineering and production talent in the world. So it makes sense that we will renew the dream and build this high-tech, supercar in Marysville, Ohio.”

In addition to the plant location, Honda announced that Honda R&D Americas chief engineer Ted Klaus is leading the global team developing the new NSX, and Clement D’ Souza, associate chief engineer at Honda of America, is leading the team that will bring NSX to mass production in 2015.

“This new plant will be as unique as the vehicle we will build here,” said D’Souza. “In creating the plan for this plant, we looked closely at each process and determined the perfect blend of associate craftsmanship and technology to adopt a new approach to manufacturing.”

The Acura NSX Concept was on display at the event, attended by local community and government leaders, including Ohio Governor John Kasich, showcasing the NSX’s low and wide stance that will help fulfill the Acura brand product direction centered on the synergy between man and machine.

The new NSX is being developed by a global R&D team led by designers and engineers at Honda R&D Americas, Inc. located in Los Angeles, Calif., and Raymond, Ohio. The NSX will feature a unique powertrain and body structure to provide an incredible driving experience. It will be powered by a mid-mounted V-6 engine mated to Acura’s innovative new Sport Hybrid SH-AWD (Super Handling All Wheel Drive) system.

“We have a very clear understanding of the high customer expectations luxury buyers around the world have for a supercar, and our challenge is to exceed them and create new value for the customer,” said Klaus. “This new Performance Manufacturing Center will be key to this challenge.”

Once selected, the team of production associates at the Performance Manufacturing Center will begin training and establishing manufacturing processes that will be used to build the all-new NSX. The next generation NSX will be built exclusively at the all-new Performance Manufacturing Center. In addition to being sold in North America, the NSX will be exported to customers throughout the world.

The original Acura NSX was built at the Takanezawa Plant in Japan from 1990 until production moved to the Suzuka Plant in early 2004, where it was produced until 2005. Part of the Tochigi Factory, the Takanezawa Plant was the first manufacturing facility in the world to mass-produce an all-aluminum body and balance advanced production equipment with hands-on “craftsman” processes.

Will feature a Sport Hybrid SH-AWD system

The highly anticipated 2015 Honda/Acura NSX has been spied undergoing final testing in Germany around the Nürburgring circuit.

Honda has been relatively quiet lately about the long-awaited NSX revival but now we have a fresh batch of spy photos with a camouflaged prototype testing at the 'Ring, ahead of a full reveal likely to occur before the end of the year since the company has already announced plans to begin production in 2015 at a newly established Performance Manufacturing Center in Ohio where they are investing 70M USD. As a reminder, the 2015 NSX is being developed by Honda R&D Americas in Raymond, Ohio.

The car appears to look virtually the same as the Acura NSX concept shown at last year's NAIAS in Detroit which itself was a minor revision of a concept exhibited a year earlier at the same venue. It will make use of a three-motor high-performance hybrid system encompassing two electric motors driving the front wheels along with a third motor built into an all-new dual-clutch transmission while a mid-mounted V6 engine will power the rear axle.

Honda has labeled this system as Sport Hybrid Super Handling All Wheel Drive (SH-AWD) and they say it will be capable to provide the NSX reboot with "instant delivery of negative or positive torque to the front wheels during cornering to achieve a new level of driving performance unparalleled by current AWD systems."