The new-generation NSX is a beautiful piece of machinery and performance, but its impact on the automotive world is still far less than that of the first-generation NSX. To give the new NSX a more retro look, Honda has partnered with Italdesign to create the NSX Tribute, revealed at the 2026 Tokyo Auto Salon, as a celebration of three major milestone anniversaries. This year, Honda will be celebrating its first Formula 1 victory at the 1965 Mexican Grand Prix, the 1990 debut of the original NSX at the Chicago Auto Show, and the first outright victory for a Japanese team and car at the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans in the GT2 class with the NSX.
The second-generation NSX originally debuted back in 2016, marking a complete design departure from the original. Honda deliberately avoided a “retro-inspired” design philosophy in favor of creating an all-new look to match the massive performance changes between the first generation and the new generation. But for this tribute, Italdesign has reinterpreted the current NSX with the classic NSX in mind, and those design references can be seen all around the car. Nearly every body panel is replaced for this tribute, with the front and rear ends being the biggest draws. Up front, the headlights feature a sliding panel that covers or reveals the lights, a clear homage to the pop-up headlights of yesteryear. The entire front fascia resembles a stylized “H” when viewed head-on. At the rear, the NA1’s iconic taillights have been reimagined as a floating ring with a continuous LED light bar. A roof scoop has also been added, just as on the NSX-R GT, to enhance engine cooling.
The interior has not been significantly changed, but it does take inspiration from vintage Formula 1 single-seaters, with subtle tweaks to the cockpit layout. There are references to Ayrton Senna, including the number 12 and a small helmet graphic on the dashboard, as Senna played a major role in the development of the original NSX. The hybrid powertrain—a 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6 paired with three electric motors producing 573 horsepower and capable of 0–60 mph in under three seconds—remains unchanged. However, that could be dependent on the owner of the NSX Tribute, because instead of producing new NSXs in this Tribute form, Italdesign will take existing vehicles and rebuild them into this new vision of the NSX. This means precise pricing details are unknown, as Italdesign will work directly with customers to determine pricing and the scale of the transformation, which one would imagine could also include performance enhancements if the customer has deep enough pockets.
Apart from having to pay for a donor car, the transformation itself is likely to cost at minimum a six-figure sum. To introduce even more exclusivity, production is capped at between 10 and 15 units and will only be offered for right-hand-drive versions, automatically excluding U.S.-market Acura NSXs.
