Honda Not Warming up Much to the 2012 Tokyo Auto Salon

The Detroit Auto Show hasn't even opened its doors to the public and yet some automakers are already getting ready for the next car show which is the Tokyo Auto Salon 2012 with NAPAC, which will be held from Friday, January 13, to Sunday, January 15. The aftermarket and customization show is Japan's equivalent of the SEMA show.

While Honda couldn't be absent from the event, the Japanese carmaker's offerings won't be drawing that much attention.

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Honda EV-STER Concept to Spawn a Production Model

It looks like the retro-styled N Concept 4 city car won't be the only Honda study displayed at this month's Tokyo Motor Show that will end up going into production as the Japanese carmaker's CEO Takanobu Ito told German magazine Auto Motor und Sport that the open-top EV-STER has also received the green light.

The Honda boss revealed that the battery-powered, rear-wheel drive roadster could arrive in the market as early as 2012, adding that the company may also introduce more conventional version with a classic gasoline engine, without offering any more details.

However, it's only reasonable to assume that the gasoline model would be a hybrid matching an internal combustion engine with an electric motor.

At 3,570mm (140.5-in.) long, 1,500mm (59.0-in.) wide and 1,100mm (43.3-in.) tall, with a wheelbase of 2,325mm (92.5-in.), the tiny concept is marginally larger than Honda's 1990s mid-engined kei car, the Beat.

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Tokyo Motor Show: Honda’s New EV-STER Concept is the Beat of the Future

While not the NSX or S2000 replacements that enthusiasts have long been waiting to see, the Japanese firm's EV-STER concept shows that Honda still has some faint traces of sporty genes left in its DNA.

The pure electric roadster model is very compact in size measuring just 3,570mm (140.5-in.) long, 1,500mm (59.0-in.) wide and 1,100mm (43.3-in.) tall, with a wheelbase of 2,325mm (92.5-in.). That makes it slightly bigger than the Beat, Honda's mid-engined, two-seat roadster kei car that was produced from 1991 to 1996.

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New Honda Beat: Next-Generation Kei Roadster Speculated

Remember the original Beat, Honda's pint-sized, two-seater roadster with the mid-engine, rear-wheel drive layout of the 1990s? Well, Japan's Best Car magazine is doing what it does best by speculating on the return of the Beat in Honda's car range.

Our knowledge of the Japanese language is non-existent so we can't share any details from the article (any help would be hugely appreciated) but we assume from the side air-vents that the design proposal is for a rear-engined roadster - something like the poor man's Porsche.

We don't know if the rendering / story is based on actual inside information or pure speculation, but it would be interesting to hear your say about whether or not a model like this could be successful in markets outside Japan in today's world of downsizing and greener cars.

Via: Best Car

HIGH-RES PHOTO GALLERY HONDA BEAT (click picture to open)