Will Honda's bet on its young design prodigy pay dividends?

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."