The Honda NSX Tribute by Italdesign is a tribute to the Honda NSX by Italdesign

This is a tribute to the Honda NSX designed and built by Italdesign. TopGear.com can verify this through careful interpretation of its official moniker, which goes by the catchy title of ‘Honda NSX Tribute by Italdesign’.

Not the punchiest of names, but surely a punchy combination, marrying the talents of the second-generation Honda NSX – the furiously complex V6 turbo hybrid – to one of the great Italian coachbuilders.

It’s been “officially recognised by Honda” and is a “philosophical homage to an icon of performance, reliability, and usability”. It’s an aesthetic makeover rather than a full technical rethink – Italdesign hasn’t noted any changes to the drivetrain or chassis – so there’s the same 3.5-litre turbo six-pot, e-motor AWD setup and 573bhp as the ‘regular’ Mk2 NSX.

Instead, Italdesign has beefed up the front bumper and set the headlamps in a gloss black fairing. The callback to the Mk1’s pop-ups come via narrow ‘eyelids’. There are beefier side skirts, floating fins on the C-pillar, 19in/20in wheels front and back, and a new interpretation of the Mk1’s “historic” rear spoiler.

Oh, and a roof scoop occurs, which is “a clear reference to the one on the NSX-R GT version”, as does a hot air diffuser at the rear, too.

Inside, Italdesign’s given the NSX a bit of a tidy up, adding a few subtle tweaks here and there are subtle nods to a certain Mr Ayrton Senna – the number 12 on the dash, and the Honda script, are both references to the Brazilian great, “designed for those who know the story”.

“It is not a restomod, nor a purely nostalgic exercise,” said Italdesign’s head of… design, Joaquin Garcia, “it is the will to merge memory and innovation, advanced technology and artisanal excellence in a model that preserves the original racing DNA, together with the Italian character of the exterior forms, to which we have added contemporary styling and engineering solutions.”

It's not a one-off showcar built purely for Tokyo (where it’s been debuted), because Italdesign intends to build a very limited run of them. However, TopGear.com cannot verify exactly how many it intends to build. While we go and find out, let us know what you make of it.