Is The 2026 Honda S2000 Real?

In a word: No. There's no substantive reason to believe that Honda is working on bringing the S2000 back. There are no press releases from the company itself, no human-sourced anecdotes to rely on, and no reporting from reputable outlets — at least since Forbes speculated back in 2020 that the anniversary prototype revealed then could lead to another in 2024.

On top of the complete lack of evidence suggesting the car's return, it's highly unlikely that it would return as soon as 2026 without some sort of announcement or concept being revealed first. Honda has made no announcements regarding the S2000, and no spy shots have been captured either — only renderings and computer-generated images (that are mostly pretty awful) currently exist. 

The S2000 was a truly-special car. It was a drop-top roadster built by Honda, debuting in 1999, that received a lot of praise for its excellent driving dynamics and elegant styling. Nevertheless, the two-door high-revving Honda sports car was discontinued in 2009 after years of declining sales. It was popular amongst enthusiasts and well-loved in the car community, but that wasn't enough to keep the S2000 alive. Honda enthusiasts (myself included) would love to see a sporty, rear-wheel drive, high-revving roadster with a manual transmission return to the scene, but at present, there's no reason to believe that will happen.

You may have heard rumors or seen a few digital renderings of an imagined future S2000, but if you have a trained eye and a skeptical ear you can tell pretty quickly that these rumors have no basis in fact. One reason to be suspicious of these digitally-generated images is the quality. Digitally rendered images are often low resolution, they typically lack depth, and there are several mistakes you can spot if you look closely. In the AI-generated image here, the Honda logos on the wheels are blurred and look somewhat melted. The grille has inconsistencies in the openings and looks blurry too. The car also seems to be placed digitally in its background, not photographed in real life — another sign of trickery. 

In several YouTube videos, supposedly-human voices praise the virtues of the old S2000 and talk about the potential powertrain that would live under the hood of a new model. The poorly scripted voiceovers lack specifics and references, and they're typically posted by YouTube channels without a name or face associated with the content. What's more, when you see the images of the potential future S2000, they're all different. If there were really a new S2000 on its way, there would likely be consistency over a small set of images. Make no mistake, many would love to see Honda introduce a car worthy of the S2000's legendary status, but at the moment, it's not on the cards.