Hot Wheels Designer Ryu Asada dropped two Honda gems on Instagram last week. One on his own IG account:
The other on the Hot Wheels Designer account:
A fantastic pair. The Prelude is the second color for 2020, and the Honda NSX-R is a prototype of the upcoming new model in 2020. That Prelude is going to get a ton of attention from me in the future, so let’s focus on the NSX.
Ryu was kind enough to send over some additional shots.
This NSX is completely made from scratch – no relation to the previous 1990 NSX in the basic range, also designed by Ryu – and will debut in an upcoming premium mix. Can you guess where? (Hint, it will be black and has a thing for buses.)
This version loses the large rear wheel that the basic range Acura casting has, and Ryu has tried to push realistic proportions, as much as he can on a Hot Wheels. One reason is because it is premium, and a replica of a specific car. And the second reason it goes same size throughout? I’ll let Ryu explain:
You know we always pay attention to fans and collectors, lots of people asked for the same size wheels on the NSX. So we experimented on this new NA2 NSX-R. Although you may be surprised to hear this, I didn’t mind the large rear on the 1990 Acura NSX so much, it’s still a cool toy fueled with tons of Hot Wheels DNA…performance aspect characterized by those large wheels. But it’s totally cool to have more scaled look too. We went through vintage Hot Wheels catalogues and history, and learned that we’ve made a lots of cars like that in the history too. They are relatively moderate, but definitely still Hot Wheels cars. So we decided to take a step back and gave this NA2 NSX same size wheels all around. Not to mention it’s still not a straight scale down of the real car. I still had to add some flavor and spice things up…as a Hot Wheels product, it needs to look hot, right?? It may not seem, but there’s a lot of work done to it to achieve the “right” feel as small scale. Hope everyone can get in their hands and enjoy it!
Yep, you asked, and Ryu obliged. A Honda NSX more to scale. Having known Ryu for years, I know how much he puts into his designs, and I know how much he wants collectors to be happy with his creations, and he pays attention to their reactions.
That is the case here. He had another NSX to do, so he took our opinions into consideration.
It will be cool to watch this develop, and it is bound to be very popular. As always, thanks to Ryu for his input.
Wow! I never would have expected this. An all new casting of the first gen NSX. I wouldn’t have thought this facelift would warrant a new casting. I am thrilled to see it’s being done. It really turned out great. I love it! Are we moving into a new age of Honda at Hot Wheels? The recent Civic Type-Rs are to be expected, but the City was out of left field and I didn’t think there was enough interest around the 5th gen Prelude to bring us that one. It’s looking fantastic in electric blue! I grew up with Hondas, so I’m down for all of it. Nissans are great, but it’s nice to see some other Japanese brands get some attention.
The details on the Prelude are just spot-on! I absolutely love it! I gotta focus on finding the silver one first before getting too excited for this one. Also, the facelift Acura NSX is no slouch either! I honestly think it looks better than the 1990 version, probably because of no large rear wheels. Also the open grille with flush headlights looks a little sleeker in my opinion. It has a better design flow.
YAAASS!!! I’ve wanted them to do Mia’s NSX for sooo long (one of my favourite “cameo” cars from the series and one that actually had a few significant scenes and not just some random background car) I also wanted to see the NSX with same size wheels, and I’m happy we’re actually getting both. And getting it in premium is the cherry on top of the cake.
The casting looks spot on except for one thing and that’s the lack of side mirrors. It’s a small detail but makes a big difference. Maybe they had designing limitations or whatever, we don’t know, but it had to be pointed it out. Anyway, this does not mean I’m not excited for this. I very much am and I can’t wait to see the final version and get my hands on it.
A few little words in Ryu’s quote made me laugh under my breath a little bit… “Hope everyone can get in their hands and enjoy it!” I’d very much enjoy finding ANYTHING worthwhile, from the blue brand OR orange at this point. I’m sure I’m preaching to the choir here…how f***ing long has it been since I had ANYTHING new in my collection? Where are the new batches? FFS, I know we live in different times now, but this started months and months ago so we can’t exactly blame it on our current predicament.
I’m with you. The local Walmart had it’s pegs dwindling down to nothing but 5-10 red Zoom Ins for a few months. I couldn’t understand why they weren’t restocking. Then a few weeks ago, before the “lock down”, whamo, 4 dump bins full of case D, with 3 or 4 pieces of G case mixed in for good measure. I then found the same dump bins at other Walmarts. So I assume this is why they let the pegs go empty. I know, not exactly the latest batch, but at least it provided an opportunity to score some hard to find models such as; Bugatti Chiron, Advan Lancer Evo, Porsche 918 Spyder, Civic Type R and Urban Outlaw Mazda REPU.
Last week, during my necessary trip to Kroger for groceries, I came across dump multiple dump bins and floor displays put out for Easter with D, E and F case. The major find though was the shippers full of premium models! Car Culture Japan Historics 3, Team Transport mix 7, Fast & Furious Fast Tuners and Entertainment mix B. I really hit the jackpot! I stocked up to help “weather the storm”. 😉
So awesome to see a new NSX. Looks great. Infinitely better than the awful old NSX casting.
Prelude is totally awesome too.