Honda OSM: Lightweight Fun with the Environment in Mind

This sleek two-seat roadster is a new concept car that Honda will be
showing off in London, England this summer at the country’s national
motor show. It’s called the OSM, which is short for Open Study Model,
and is being pegged as a lightweight sports car that has a green
conscience.

The
OSM sketch shows a neat looking vehicle that’s a bit of a departure in terms of
styling compared to other current Honda products. The nose, in
particular, features a broader, low-mounted six-sided grille which is
actually very similar to that featured in Honda’s other recent green
sports car concept, the CR-Z. The new concept was penned in Germany, at Honda’s
Offenbach studios, rather than in Japan.

Although
no technical details about the car have been released, such as its
configuration (front wheel drive, rear wheel drive, Super-Handling all
wheel drive) or what kind of motor will be powering it (diesel, hybrid,
range-extended plug-in hybrid), what we do know is that it will be
environmentally friendly, specifically designed to reduce fuel consumption and emissions without losing the fun to drive nature of a
roadster.

The one thing that Honda will say about the OSM is that it’s merely a concept car for now, and
has not been confirmed for production. A spokesperson from Honda
furthered that note by stating that even though it’s the right look,
the right number of seats and is a convertible, the OSM is not a
preview to the successor of the S2000 performance roadster. We’ll see about that.