The Honda S660 is a two-seat

targa Targa or TARGA may refer to: Car racing events *Targa Adelaide, in Australia *Targa Canada West, in British Columbia *Targa Florio, in Sicily, Italy, 1906–1977 *Targa Florio Rally, in Sicily, Italy, from 1978 *Targa High Country, in Victoria, A ...

sports car A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...

in the ''

kei Kei may refer to: People * Kei (given name) * Kei, Cantonese for Ji (surname), Ji(姫) * Kei, Cantonese for Qi (surname), Qi(奇, 祁, 亓) * Shō Kei (1700–1752), king of the Ryūkyū Kingdom * Kei (singer) (born 1995), stage name of South Kor ...

'' class manufactured by the Japanese manufacturer

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a product ...

with a transverse mid-engine and rear-wheel-drive layout. It is the successor to the

Honda Beat The Honda Beat is a rear wheel drive, mid-engined two-seat roadster kei car produced from May 1991 until February 1996. The Beat was the last car to be approved by Soichiro Honda before he died in 1991. The total number of cars produced was ar ...

(with regard to segment), and the

Honda S2000 The Honda S2000 is an Roadster (automobile), open top sports car that was manufactured by Japanese automobile manufacturer Honda, from 1999 until 2009. First shown as a concept car called the SSM at the Tokyo Motor Show#1995, Tokyo Motor Show in ...

(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

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 The S500 was the second production car from Honda (and its first passenger automobile), released in 1963, following the T360 truck into production by four months. It was a larger-displacement variant of the S360 roadster which, though developed ...

(from which the S660 draws inspiration).

Performance

The S660 is powered by the same

turbocharged In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pro ...

658 cc '' S07A Turbo'' engine used in the N-One with some mechanical improvements. In the S660, this engine is mid-mounted and produces at 6,000 rpm and 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

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. 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.

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 compartment.

Production

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.

Discontinuation

Production of the S660 ended in March 2022.Honda S660 Modulo X Version Z Marks The End Of The Sporty Kei Car
- Motor 1.com(04/24/2021)

Gallery

2015 Honda S660 Concept Edition 660 DBA-JW5 (20190428).jpg, Honda S660 Concept Edition Honda S660 α (3BA-JW5).jpg, Honda S660 α 2016 Honda S660.jpg, Honda S660 Modulo 2016 Honda S660 1.jpg, Honda S660 Modulo Honda S660 Modulo X (3BA-JW5) front.jpg, Honda S660 Modulo X Honda S660 Modulo X (3BA-JW5) rear.jpg, Honda S660 Modulo X HONDA S660 JW5 03.jpg, Interior HONDA S660 JW5 04.jpg, '' S07A Turbo'' engine

References

External links

*
Tokyo Auto Show 2013 S660 press kit (in Japanese) pg 12
{{Modern Honda vehicles S660 Cars introduced in 2015 2020s cars Kei cars Roadsters Rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive vehicles Vehicles with CVT transmission