When we think of super cars, the first ones that typically come to mind are the Audi R8, Bugatti Veyron, some type of McLaren, a Ferrari of some sort, and possibly even the Acura NSX. The funny part is that only one of those car is actually made in the U.S. That’s right, the NSX is made in Ohio, but that doesn’t mean it’s not special. In fact, the factory that it’s made in is just as special as the car itself.

Where is the Acura NSX produced?

The original Acura NSX was built from 1990 to 2005 in a pristine, and meticulously maintained factory located in Takanezawa, Japan. However, for the second-generation NSX, which started production in 2017, Acura wanted the supercar to be built in America, like the other cars in its lineup, in order to focus on the production talent that it has here in the states. And they are definitely talented.

The crew that builds the NSX does its magic within the confines of Honda’s Performance Manufacturing Center (PMC), which is located in Marysville, Ohio. This manufacturing center is unlike any other in the world as it’s purpose-built solely build NSXs and it looks the part as well. According to a story from Jalopnik, the main building room is “one giant open room, and that there are no assembly lines and very few robots. Instead, the cars move from station to station on carts and people do the vast majority of the work by hand.” Needless to say, the meticulous attention to detail and hand-crafted process of building an NSX is the epitome of the brand’s ethos of “Precision Crafted Performance.”

What’s so special about the way the NSX is built?

Almost everything about the way the Acura NSX built is special; from the super clean facility to the painting process and quality control that goes into each and every car. The PMC is able to churn out about six to eight cars a day, and while that might not sound like a lot, that’s pretty productive considering how much work goes into just one of these cars. For starters, the performance center utilizes robots for MIG welding the chassis and then each weld is inspected by a master certified technician to ensure 100 percent accuracy.

According to Acura, by using robotic technology, the factory is able to ensure repeatable and accurate results, which is followed up by the quality assurance of its technicians. The painting process includes using a tri-coat paint that’s usually reserved for a show car, which is applied by robots to ensure uniform coverage each and every time. A highly-skilled painter then check finishes up the paintwork and inspects the quality.

As for the engine assembly, each NSX engine is built near the PMC factory in Anna, Ohio, where they even take each engine through the initial break-in process so that new owners can take their brand-new NSX to the track the same day as they bought it if needed.

It’s not where it’s built, it’s about how it’s built

While it’s easy to think that the quality of a supercar depends a lot on where it’s built (i.e. Japan or Europe), Acura has shown us that a Japanese company can easily build a formidable supercar in the U.S. just like it does any of its other passenger cars and SUVs. After all, it doesn’t matter where a car is built, it just matters how it’s built.