Not that type of “green” – According to Automotive News: “I would like to make a sports car,” Ito said today on the sidelines of the Tokyo Motor Show. “Once we have that technology and once we have cash on hand, I would like to see Honda have a sports car that symbolizes our technology.”

Ito said Honda’s sports car would not be like the Lexus LFA supercar unveiled by Toyota Motor Corp. at the show. “It would be environmentally friendly and have great performance,” he said.

Toyota plans to build just 500 units of the $375,000 Lexus LFA two-seater car, which has a 4.8-liter V-10 engine that can reach speeds of 325 kph (200 mph).

Honda had been preparing a successor model for its legendary NSX sports car, also with a V-10 engine, but ditched those plans last year citing an urgent need to save money amid the economic downturn and the growing consumer shift toward greener cars.

Ito believes the future is about clean, sustainable cars, and sports cars are no exception.

“Sure, there are folks who like that ‘vroom’ of the engine out of nostalgia,” Ito told Reuters this month. “But those people are stuck in the past. The era of V-10 engines is gone.”

Before becoming Honda CEO in late June, Ito was best known for designing the ground-breaking all-aluminum chassis for the NSX sports car in 1990.