We can't help but hear the strains of Queen's Another One Bites The Dust ringing in our ears this morning as we discover even the engineering supermen at Honda will bow to economic pressure and cancel the much anticipated Acura NSX. Takeo Fukui made the announcement in his annual end-of-year speech. In addition to axing the companies first V10-powered supercar, the Chairman also announced plans to cancel the roll out of the Acura brand in the Japanese domestic market, further signaling a return to a more conservative Honda marketing strategy.

It ran 7 minutes, 37 seconds on its first attempt around the Nürburgring (as a prototype!), it was set to shake up the established supercar brands. It was going to be this generations Jaguar E-Type! And now, to learn the Acura NSX has been killed to focus on hippy cars and fuel misers? Oh, the humanity! [AutoCar]

Those performance claims probably don't account for the upcoming Nissan GT-R Spec V, which may be a bit more hardcore that the NSX, but will likely be closer in price point and exclusivity than a standard GT-R. Then you've got to figure King Kong, the Corvette ZR1, into the mix too. Of course, we're not really sure exactly which aspect of performance Honda is bragging about, but if they start making claims about Nürburgring lap times, we're sure Porsche will complain argue that they're lying. Though if Honda is talking about acceleration figures, they probably don't need to worry about it, since GT-R owners apparently can't use launch control without their car losing all hope of manufacturer-paid product support. [Automotive News (sub. req.) via MotorAuthority]

Maybe it looks like that because the renderings appear to come straight from an artist using the Detroit Auto Show concept as a cheat sheet. But, Edmunds' buddies do have some method to the madness. They claim Honda has employed their recent experiences with F1 to create a design generating maximum downforce and straight-line stability. That's why they claim the 2010 Acura NSX was able to drop a lap time of 7 minutes, 37 seconds on its first attempt around the Nürburgring — and will more than likely give the GT-R a run for the money shot on the sub-7:30 time.

How're they going to do that? Well, Edmunds Inside Line also claims the new NSX will weigh in at around 3,256 pounds. That's over 500 pounds lighter than the GT-R. Plus, the rear section of the coupe apparently acts like one big rear wing. Also, there's that 5.5-liter V10 expected to run at over 600 HP and 433 lb-ft of torque. And of course we'd also heard it's expected to get cylinder deactivation — you know, to help with fuel economy and stuff.

Jalopnik Snap Judgment: There's no reason to believe the new NSX won't be faster than the GT-R and the 2009 Corvette ZR1 considering the blistering fast numbers it's already posting. However, we're really truly hoping they do something to those horizontal slits on the front fascia. If not, we're hoping Acura will give us a check box for the leopard-print camouflage.

[via Edmunds Inside Line]

2010 Honda NSX replacement at the Nürburgring Nordschleife from MrBTG on Vimeo. [BridgeToGantry]

We caught our first glimpse of Honda's Acura NSX replacement earlier in the week, and now, adding to our 2009 Porsche 911 'Ring footage from earlier, the guys at Bridge To Gantry have snapped these new shots. They think there's a high-revving V10 under the hood, but whatever it is it's gonna be fast. How do we know this? Because Honda CEO Takeo Fukai has demanded that the development team make the NSX faster than both the Nissan GT-R and the Lexus LF-A. That would mean a Nurburgring lap time better than the GT-R's 7:29, though the LF-A may be even faster than that. Of course, the NSX having the 5.5-liter V10's 550 HP connected to Honda's Super-Handling All-Wheel-Drive has to help.
[BridgeToGantry, Inside Line via WorldCarFans]