End of the Road for the Roadster
Yesterday, Honda officially announced that it will stop production of the Honda s2000 roadster at the end of the 2009 production run. Honda had already announced it would stop R&D on the s2000 and NSX successors, so this marks a (hopefully temporary) end to Honda sports cars.
10 years is a really long run for a car that’s remained largely unchanged since its debut. Since 1999, there’s only been a few changes, most notably the 2.2L engine and front/rear bumpers in the 2004 AP2, and the Club Racer version in 2008. But other than that and a few dash, wheel and control changes, the s2000 stayed the same for longer than most, and I think the descision to end the run is justified. Not to mention, the end of production will help make the car a bit more special. Only about 65,000 were sold over the past 10 years in the United States (110,000 worldwide).
Hopefully when the economy kicks back up and people are looking to spend money on sports cars again, Honda will introduce another s2k-like car and stay true to its racing heritage.