Acura showed off an updated version of its NSX supercar and Gov. John Kasich toured the North American International Auto Show in Detroit Tuesday. Watch video
DETROIT -- Ohio Gov. John Kasich hopes to persuade Japanese automakers to make parts in Ohio.
Kasich met with automotive executives Tuesday at the North American International Auto Show, encouraging them to build more cars and more car parts in Ohio.
"The industry in Ohio right now is doing well," Kasich said afterward. "The companies are doing better. They're on higher ground."
Plain Dealer automotive reporter Robert Schoenberger is at the North American International Auto Show this week. Go to cleveland.com/autoshow for live updates and to take part in live chats on the events in Detroit.
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He said the Japanese are looking to diversify their supplier bases, after earthquakes, tsunamis and floods devastated Asian auto production in 2011. Honda and Toyota had to temporarily close their American plants because of a lack of parts.
The governor said he has plans to meet with Japanese car officials in the near future to talk about how Ohio can help them build parts in the state.
A sense of optimism has been rampant at the auto show this year with industry leaders expressing more confidence than they have in years. And that wave of good feelings appears aimed at Ohio.
At Ford, officials are talking about getting more V-6 engines out of plants in Brook Park and Lima. At General Motors, executives are talking about new pickups that will use Parma-built parts. And Chrysler officials can't praise their Toledo Jeep plants loudly enough.
A year after saying Ohio would design and build the next Acura NSX supercar, Honda on Tuesday showed how that car's looking.
It looks pretty darned good.
"To me, the great and exciting part about this whole thing is that the NSX is going to be the only supercar built in the United States" by a mass-market automaker, Honda sales chief John Mendel said in an interview at the show.
The NSX shown last year was a concept without a functional interior, a design meant to show off what the eventual vehicle might look like within a few years. The design unveiled Tuesday is a bit farther along. It has seats, mirrors and other things you'd expect to find inside a car.
But it still has the ridiculous sense of excess - huge wheels tucked under curved metal fenders, with more space dedicated to an engine than for passengers - that any vehicle hoping to be known as a supercar should have.
Mendel said Honda is still considering plant sites near its existing plants in Central Ohio for the NSX. Honda isn't expecting to build a large plant for the NSX as it expects the hybrid-powered sports machine to sell in very small numbers.
While the supercar may be the most exciting thing coming from Honda in the near future, Mendel said he's more interested for now in the Accord, also built in Ohio. Honda hopes to set a U.S. sales record this year, and it's going to need large numbers of the redesigned Accord to reach that goal.
"We've got the makings of another good year," Mendel said.
Shortly after offering a look at the state's industry, Kasich talked to Joe Hinrichs, Ford president of The Americas and a Columbus native.
After their impromptu meeting, Hinrichs said he told the governor how important Ohio is going to be to the company meeting its goals this year. The Brook Park engine plant makes the EcoBoost V-6 engines that have fueled the growth of Ford's F-Series pickups in the past year and will go into Transit commercial vans late this year.
"We've got big plans for that engine. The Ohio plants, Cleveland and Lima, they're going to be really important this year," Hinrichs said.
In addition to the Acura NSX concept, a few other automakers had launches Tuesday, the final media preview day at the auto show.
Ford showed off the Atlas, a look at what its next F-150 pickup could look like. Expectations for the concept had been high with several publications predicting radical features such as an all-aluminum frame and new technology. Instead, the concept looked a lot like the existing F-150 but with special shutters on the wheels that can close, slightly improving aerodynamics.
Cadillac showed off the ELR, that brand's version of GM's Chevrolet Volt. Like the Volt, it has a large battery and a small electric motor. Designed to be more stylish and sportier, the ELR will be more powerful than the Volt, meaning it will also have a shorter range, 300 miles between gasoline and electricity, unlike the Volt's 380.