Will 26 year old Ryo Mukumoto drive Honda out of trouble?

Honda Motor Co will soon learn whether giving a designer with no engineering experience five years to develop a sports car is pure genius or plain madness.

Ryo Mukumoto was 22 and into his third year making mock-ups at Honda's research arm when he beat about 400 other entries in an in-house competition. Honda made him the youngest lead engineer in the company's history and gave him a young team to help translate his ideas into reality. Mukumoto's vision — a low-slung roadster inspired by a speeding bullet — goes on sale next month in the most competitive segment in Japan's shrinking car market.

"People of my generation think cars are simply a tool for transportation," Mukumoto, now 26, said in an interview in Wako City, Japan. "I wanted them to say — hmm, this car is different," he said. "We have made a car that will turn heads."

The introduction of the S660 roadster, named for the 660-cc engine capacity that defines the minicar category unique in Japan, comes as Honda searches for a way out of record vehicle recalls and quality lapses. The firm has blamed these problems in part on an ambitious sales target that placed undue stress on its vaunted engineers.

President Takanobu Ito, himself a motorcycle-racing engineer, will step down in June after leading the company for six years through a tumultuous period that began with a global recession, followed by natural disasters and unfavourable exchange rates, and ending in deaths from defective airbags installed in its cars.

"Honda has been renowned for its challenging spirit and unique cars, but their recent lineup has become more plain," said Osamu Katayama, author of a 2011 book on Honda's nurturing of talent. "There must be a sense of crisis within the firm and they want to send out a message with this car."

By putting Mukumoto in charge, Honda has reemphasised its trust in backing young talent, a culture that comes from founder Soichiro Honda, who built his company into Japan's third-largest carmaker despite having no formal education.

Mukumoto became a fan of Honda after reading a comic book in primary school about Soichiro. He joined the company at 19 after studying machinery at a vocational high school in Okayama Prefecture, western Japan.

A car aficionado who drives a Honda S2000 opentop sportscar to work, Mukumoto likes to zip through the mountain roads of Tochigi, an area north of Tokyo that's famous for its Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples.

"I feel like I can have conversations with the car driving there," he said.

Honda is wagering that the S660 will speak to buyers of Japan's 'kei' minicars.

These tiny cars made up about 40% of total new car sales last year, aided by benefits including lower tax rates and a price war between market leaders Suzuki Motor and Daihatsu Motor.

Honda's soft-top rear-wheel drive S660 with a mid-mounted engine will sell from 2 million yen ($16,760), competing with Daihatsu's Copen, a front-wheel drive with a retractable hard top that starts from 1.8 million yen.