With key rivals Nissan and Toyota working on a trio of sports cars for their respective lineups, not wanting to be left out Honda is said to also be in the race to develop a range of new sports cars. The automaker has already confirmed a second-generation NSX and production version of the S660 concept to serve as bookends for its sports car lineup, and filling the middle will reportedly be an S2000 successor.

Unfortunately, the S2000 successor isn’t expected to be a lightweight roadster like the original. Instead, we could see it morph into a mid-engine coupe powered by a hybrid drivetrain. We've previously heard that Honda was looking at making its S2000 successor a hybrid, and now Auto Express is reporting the same. According to the British magazine the car is yet to receive the production green light but there’s a strong chance that it will given the competition.

Power in the car is said to come from a hybrid system combining the turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder set to debut in Honda’s latest Civic Type R with an electric motor. The system would feature technology being developed for the hybrid power unit Honda will supply to the McLaren Formula One team in 2015 and will allow the S2000 successor to offer 0-60 acceleration of under 5.0 seconds while returning a fuel economy in excess of 40 mpg.

Together with the new NSX and the production version of the S660, the mid-engine S2000 successor would make Honda the first automaker to have a trio of mid-engine sports cars (although McLaren may beat them to it). If approved production, the S2000 successor isn’t likely to arrive until 2017 at the earliest.

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