The Honda NSX is still rightfully considered one of the best handling and most important super cars of all time. It's the car that's responsible for all the reliable, easy-to-drive, safe exotics that rich d-bags are blessed with today. Before it, cars like the Ferrari 348 were slow, caught on fire even more often than Ferraris do today and actively tried to kill you not just through a lack of safety equipment, but through vile, unpredictable handling. Then, in 1990, a Japanese economy car maker brought out a mid-engined super car that was fast, went around corners like no car before or since and, hold onto your hats, didn't break down, ever, and was easy to drive.

To survive, Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini etc all had to follow suit. In my book, they still haven't surpassed the original NSX's driving prowess. It made do without any traction or stability control or any unnecessary complication, it was just the super car ideal distilled to its essence.

Last year I drove the Spoon Honda NSX-R GT (pictured above), the ultimate evolution of the NSX, and found it to combine everything that was great about the original car - peerless, exploitable handling - with modern performance - 420 HP pushes just 2,795 Lbs for a sub-4-second 0-60 time.

Takanobu Ito was part of the team that built the NSX, in fact, he designed the extruded-aluminum chassis. Last week he officially took over the reins of Honda.

Hondas of late have been missing that fundamentally right simplicity that was so evident in the NSX and in cars like older Accords, Civics and Integras. Now, the Accord is overcomplicated, overweight and overly ugly while other cars in the Honda lineup lack the inspiration of their predecessors. Will Takanobu Ito help return Honda to its roots? As Honda fans, we sincerely hope so.

Early signs are good. Since the appointment was announced in February, Takanobu has been looking for ways to recapture the spirit of past models by working directly with Honda R&D to push through the development of significant new models. As President, he'll be directly overseeing that department as well as the rest of the company. [via The Motor Report]

Photography credit: Robert Kerian

Jackson sees the latest fuel crisis as a two-pronged beast: On one hand, sustained higher fuel prices will drive consumers (and manufacturers) to more fuel-efficient vehicles, eventually reducing our consumption of oil and improving national security. On the other hand, high gas prices are dragging down the economy, wrecking his profits, and generally suck.

However, Jackson is taking a refreshingly long-term view of the situation, and concluding that the country, its citizens, and its businesses (his included) will be fundamentally better off in the end by learning to cope with high energy costs. Given that the OPEC supply wildcard has been supplanted by the much less predictable speculator wildcard this time around, plus China proving it has an appetite to match our own, a long-term view may be the only right answer.

But Jackson acknowledges that if energy prices change, all bets are off. "I'm a good car salesman," Mr. Jackson says. "If I have high gas prices and an open-minded consumer, it's very doable. There is a connection between their needs and what we have to offer them. If we have cheap gasoline, it's mission impossible."

In other words, take your medicine, kids. It doesn't taste good, but you'll feel better tomorrow. Now pardon me, but I'm off to drive my G-Wagen. The beatings begin in five, four, three...
[WSJ.com]

With Tesla still having problems with delays and a growing list of people who want their product, a little shakeup at the top could be taken as a sign that this is a company with a future and not another niche carmaker disaster waiting to happen. (h/t Jared)[NY Times]

"Johnston was paid $10.8 million last year...compensation included $1 million in base salary, $3.3 million in stock awards, $4.2 million in option awards and $185,349 for personal use of corporate aircraft. Johnston also realized $782,792 on the value of stock awards vested in 2006...Visteon also disclosed a package estimated to be worth as much as $27.1 million if Johnston is terminated without cause following any change in control of the company."

"Visteon...lost $163 million in 2006, but that was an improvement over the $270 million loss in 2005."

Visteon CEO received $10.8 million in 2006 [Freep]

Related:
Stop The Presses! Ford CEO Earns More Than Blogger [internal]

Maybe it's the aging punker in us, but for some reason whenever we read about lists of things that're perfect for the CEO, it makes us wanna grab some MD 20/20 empties, fill 'em with the cheapest gas in town and fling them at downtown office buildings in a heartfelt, yet futile blow against the empire until we're dragged kicking and screaming off to the hoosegow after being bloodied by the boots of the Man. This list, from Chief Executive magazine, cheeses us off in just that special way. In fact, in exactly the same way that it cheesed us off that an old boss of ours kept self-help books on his office bookshelf assuring him that it was fine to be rich.

Of course it's fine to be rich. It's not fine to be a corporate hoser. And if you need books assuring you that it's okay to be rich, and you need a list of cars appropriate for your profession, you're most likely a hoser of the highest magnitude. We're gonna go break out our Propgandhi records and hit our head against things. Y'all click here to read the list.

Best Cars for CEOs [KSBI-TV]

Related:
Go, Go Ghosn! Nissan Boost Sales by One Million Annually [Internal]

In his mid-year speech, earlier tooday, Honda CEO Takeo Fukui indicated the successor to the erstwhile Acura/Honda NSX sports car is several years from launch:

"We are now focused on the development of a new model to succeed the NSX for a new era. We would like to debut a new super sports car equipped with a V10 engine in three to four years. Please look forward to seeing the NSX successor."

Summary of 2005 Mid-Year CEO Speech July 20, 2005 [World Honda News]

Related:
Honda to Discontinue Acura NSX, Build New Supercar [internal]