Some miscellaneous ramblings on the NSX 2.0…(not a rant, per se...)
Dear original NSX,
So,blue is the new you, the you “II” (NSX II)...fitting, in more ways than one. I wonder if Honda is even aware they're sending a message; if it was purely unintentional or fully deliberate.If they do know, did they think it up themselves, or how many market opinion research group studies did they hold to make these decisions for them?
What I'm speaking of here is that each time a new car is released, the manufacturer chooses a stand-out color to be the “poster boy”example for the new model. For example, Ferraris have traditionally always been red, but when the then-new 355 debuted in the '90's,much of the press photos seemed to highlight a yellow example. Like they were saying, “Hey, we're more than just red.”
For Honda, the NSX debuted in red perhaps as their way of drawing an intentional mental comparison to the fact that they were gunning for Ferrari...the traditional red sports car.
Color significance is nothing new. Many of you car people (yes, there are car-girls too!), know about the original international racing colors from the '60's. The major competitors being:
Italy– red
United Kingdom – British Racing green
USA– blue w/ or w/o white center stripe
Germany– silver
Japan– white w/ red “rising sun”
This is, of course, why the coveted NSX-R is a usually in white (yes, they apparently made some R's in other-than-white.), it harkens back to international racing colors for the country. It's also notable, that as soon as Honda realized they had an out-of-the-ballpark-to-the-moon hit on their hands, the one and only thing they did for the 1992 model,was start making the car in white.
So,now that NSX 2.0 is out, and has been shown in many colors, the new brochure seems to make the “poster boy” focus as the car in none other than blue.
Another interesting note, Honda itself, changing from it's original red,adopted blue as it's logo color years ago. This was done because blue is regarded as the safest color to use in most business applications.Blue implies, in customer's minds, honesty, trust, and dependability.Why do your think Walmart uses blue so predominantly?
Red,on the other hand, signifies passion, desire, motivation,determination, being driven, and confidence...much like Honda's original inception ideas, and the thoughts conveyed by the 1991 NSX.
But why is highlighting the NSX 2.0 as blue so fitting? Because Honda is telling us that the new 2.0 is, in many ways, now an AMERICAN car. Deliberately, subtly, unintentionally, (or by the sheer madness of my personal imagination), the theory is undeniable, or at least warrants some internet or car magazine article discussion.
The car is now being built in the United States. In the past, even after all the Honda / Acura models were still designed in Japan, but built at plants in the US, the original NSX, and her little sister, S2000, were exclusively retained to be built / assembled in Japan. This was more than likely because Honda knew the Japanese workers have a better, more strict work ethic...they care about quality far more than their America Union Worker “counterparts”. Honda basically, and with just cause,didn't trust US auto workers to assemble their prized top-of-the-line precision performance cars. But it seems now they do…?
So while NSX 2.0 (no, it will never be just “NSX”...there is, and will ever be, only one true NSX), was designed in Japan, it is being built in the good ole US of A. God, I hope they aren't assembled by union laborers who are more concerned with keeping one eye on the clock waiting for the 5 o'clock whistle signaling that it's “Miller Time”, than with pouring their heart and soul into Honda's newest flagship car.
Maybe, just maybe, Honda's marketing department branded it in blue to signify this change, to tell the world that this 2.0 is a safe, trustworthy, and dependable, yet now American, car.
I think I prefer cars from the time when Honda still thought in terms of red...your mileage may vary.
.
Dear original NSX,
So,blue is the new you, the you “II” (NSX II)...fitting, in more ways than one. I wonder if Honda is even aware they're sending a message; if it was purely unintentional or fully deliberate.If they do know, did they think it up themselves, or how many market opinion research group studies did they hold to make these decisions for them?
What I'm speaking of here is that each time a new car is released, the manufacturer chooses a stand-out color to be the “poster boy”example for the new model. For example, Ferraris have traditionally always been red, but when the then-new 355 debuted in the '90's,much of the press photos seemed to highlight a yellow example. Like they were saying, “Hey, we're more than just red.”
For Honda, the NSX debuted in red perhaps as their way of drawing an intentional mental comparison to the fact that they were gunning for Ferrari...the traditional red sports car.
Color significance is nothing new. Many of you car people (yes, there are car-girls too!), know about the original international racing colors from the '60's. The major competitors being:
Italy– red
United Kingdom – British Racing green
USA– blue w/ or w/o white center stripe
Germany– silver
Japan– white w/ red “rising sun”
This is, of course, why the coveted NSX-R is a usually in white (yes, they apparently made some R's in other-than-white.), it harkens back to international racing colors for the country. It's also notable, that as soon as Honda realized they had an out-of-the-ballpark-to-the-moon hit on their hands, the one and only thing they did for the 1992 model,was start making the car in white.
So,now that NSX 2.0 is out, and has been shown in many colors, the new brochure seems to make the “poster boy” focus as the car in none other than blue.
Another interesting note, Honda itself, changing from it's original red,adopted blue as it's logo color years ago. This was done because blue is regarded as the safest color to use in most business applications.Blue implies, in customer's minds, honesty, trust, and dependability.Why do your think Walmart uses blue so predominantly?
Red,on the other hand, signifies passion, desire, motivation,determination, being driven, and confidence...much like Honda's original inception ideas, and the thoughts conveyed by the 1991 NSX.
But why is highlighting the NSX 2.0 as blue so fitting? Because Honda is telling us that the new 2.0 is, in many ways, now an AMERICAN car. Deliberately, subtly, unintentionally, (or by the sheer madness of my personal imagination), the theory is undeniable, or at least warrants some internet or car magazine article discussion.
The car is now being built in the United States. In the past, even after all the Honda / Acura models were still designed in Japan, but built at plants in the US, the original NSX, and her little sister, S2000, were exclusively retained to be built / assembled in Japan. This was more than likely because Honda knew the Japanese workers have a better, more strict work ethic...they care about quality far more than their America Union Worker “counterparts”. Honda basically, and with just cause,didn't trust US auto workers to assemble their prized top-of-the-line precision performance cars. But it seems now they do…?
So while NSX 2.0 (no, it will never be just “NSX”...there is, and will ever be, only one true NSX), was designed in Japan, it is being built in the good ole US of A. God, I hope they aren't assembled by union laborers who are more concerned with keeping one eye on the clock waiting for the 5 o'clock whistle signaling that it's “Miller Time”, than with pouring their heart and soul into Honda's newest flagship car.
Maybe, just maybe, Honda's marketing department branded it in blue to signify this change, to tell the world that this 2.0 is a safe, trustworthy, and dependable, yet now American, car.
I think I prefer cars from the time when Honda still thought in terms of red...your mileage may vary.
.
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