Car lovers will soon be tantalized by NSX concept’s striking sheetmetal. Back in September, an Acura-branded mystery roadster was spotted and photographed on the set of the upcoming superhero movie “The Avengers,” leading to widespread speculation it would form the basis for the new NSX‘s design direction. Initially, Acura responded that “The Avengers” car was a fictional one-off produced just for the film. That may not be an untrue statement, but the NSX concept indeed takes several cues from Tony Stark’s new ride, only it has a roof.

The Honda Acura NSX  concept wears thin A-pillars, a small greenhouse, and a serious-looking rear diffuser. Its bodywork was shaped with design input from Honda and Acura teams around the globe. There is room in the back for a small trunk. The concept’s tires measure 255/35-19 up front and 275/30-20 out back, and the wheels shield huge fixed calipers and brake rotors at all corners. The entire car is bodied in the toned-down yet distinctive Keen Edge design, with a cab-forward arrangement and a mid-engine layout (a la the last NSX). Acura fully acknowledges it might have reached too far with its current, provocative styling direction, but there’s no doubt you’d expect to see the big A badge when looking at the front end beak — perfect for Acura since this car is intended to dramatically boost the brand’s appeal.

For a period of time, a front-mounted V-10 engine was pegged for the new NSX, until the unpleasant economic conditions of late 2008 got the better of Honda’s product plans. When the V-10 sports car project was shelved (although a version of that car has been subsequently campaigned by Honda in motorsports events), it’s said Honda wasn’t exactly shedding tears, considering the sentiment that exerting brute force and an overreliance on performance-adding technologies was not the Honda way. Instead, Acura calls the NSX concept the “ultimate expression of man-machine synergy,” where the driver and car work together in unison for an enjoyable driving experience, rather than having overly egregious machinery take the driver for a ride. In Acura’s vision, an NSX is the definitive interpretation of a modern sports car, a performance halo that can be “drive[n] like a pro every day.” The belief in smart luxury without excess waste is Acura’s way of differentiating itself from other luxury marques. Which explains the NSX concept’s powertrain: a hybrid getup with a mid-mounted, direct-injected V-6 (likely displacing 3.5-to-3.7 liters) matched to a seven-speed twin-clutch automatic with a newly developed integrated motor. The car’s hybrid system — tentatively dubbed Sports Hybrid AWD — uses a pair of electric motors (one for each of the front wheels) for torque vectoring and independent wheel control.

On paper, this type of engineering and integration should ensure a seamless driving experience where the car is not handicapped by the driver, and vice versa. From a sustainability standpoint, Acura expects V-8 performance with better-than-four-cylinder fuel economy. So hypothetically, it should be faster and more fuel-efficient than the original NSX. Motor Trend Technical director Frank Markus got firsthand experience with an early version of this next-generation SH-AWD in Japan, proclaiming his limited time with a prototype Accord “was enough to suggest the V-8-performance claims have merit and that the electrified rear axle does indeed enhance handling over a much wider set of driving circumstances.” The future AWD system is being optimized for larger vehicles at the moment and is said to be very modular in its nature.

According to Markus’ notations, the DCT will be a wet-clutch design. Since the IMA motor isn’t hard-coupled to the engine but is affixed to an output shaft, the integrated motor enjoys a wider range of freedom than the current IMA setup. It’s the increased IMA “hybridness” that should provide the NSX concept with even greener credentials. The original NSX shocked the world and had little trouble establishing precedence in the sports car world when it debuted a little over two decades ago. It put the rest of the world on alert, and the new car should as well.