It's been a while since Honda->ke34 had a sports car->ke506 to call its own. Between 2000 and 2009, the S2000 proudly wore that title, but it slowly fizzled out toward the end of its lifespan. Things are soon set to change, as recent rumblings have indicated that Honda is finally bringing the S2000 back to life with a spiritual successor. With the anticipated arrival of the S660 and the hybrid NSX -- badged as a Honda in other markets -- the S2000's successor will give the brand a healthy 1-2-3 punch.

It's a welcome development for a manufacturer that has veered away from its sporty image in recent years in favor of offering mainstream models. But with rival automakers developing their own sports car pushes, it was time for Honda to ante up, too.

Details behind the successor to the S2000 have been minimal at best, but Auto Express has noted that the sports car is expected to be configured as a coupe rather than a convertible. It'll also sit in the middle of Honda's sports car family, with the aforementioned S660 serving as the base model and the hybrid NSX serving as the flagship, high-performance model. Additionally, the future S2000 will also use a mid-mounted, 2.0-liter, turbocharged engine instead of the front-mounted, naturally aspirated engine the original S2000 roadster used.

Talks are apparently underway deep within Honda headquarters to gauge the feasibility of this sports car and by all indication, it appears that company execs are leaning more and more to green lighting its development.

Should it see the light of production day, the S2000 is being touted as carrying similar sharp lines and narrow headlights to at least be close to the current design of the NSX, which means that it will be far departure from the current spate of Hondas already out on the market today.

Once all the details are ironed out and development begins, we can expect the sports car to arrive in dealerships no later than 2017 with a price of about £35,000, which is around $59,000 based on current exchange rates.

Click past the jump to read more about the Honda S2000.

Why It Matters

It matters because Honda's current lineup is devoid of a true performance model. The NSX -- badged as an Acura in the U.S. -- is expected to arrive real soon and the entry-level S660 is following suit in the tail end of 2015.

But once you compare the two models, you're going to notice that there's a noticeable difference in performance between them, leaving plenty of room for another sports car to slot in between the two models.

That's where the S2000 comes into the picture.

Honda S2000

The Honda S2000 didn't get nearly the same amount love as it should have if the model was still alive today. But give credit to Honda for seeing the changing landscape of Asian sports cars and not getting left behind, which is why we're pretty excited to see what the successor to the S2000 is going to look like and how its going to perform compared to its future rivals.

A growing chorus of whispers have suggested that the S2000 will sport a modified take of the 2.0-liter turbo engine that we will see powering the next generation Honda Civic Type R. Official output numbers have yet to be announced, but since that specific engine can carry as much as 350 ponies, is it reasonable to at least expect, or in our case, hope, that the new S2000 will carry as much? After all, the last S2000 had 237 horsepower under its hood so why not tack on another 100 horses for fun?

Once plans are set in stone as expected, the new S2000 could also feature some sort of hybrid technology, allowing the car to not only boast of a quick peppiness that allows it to hit 60 mph in under five seconds, but also deliver up to 40 mpg.