SUV Onslaught Continues: Honda Urban SUV Concept

Matthew Guy
by Matthew Guy

Feeling the need to build a segment vehicle that slots below the CR-V, both in terms of size and price, Honda showed its Urban SUV Concept at the Canadian International Auto Show. To drive home the point that they are marketing this at young’uns, Honda amped up the hyperbole while Skrillex blared out of the main speakers onstage.

Described as having “vibrant character lines”, apparently it has “social seating favoured by young adults” while making use of Honda’s Magic Seats. This I can only imagine simply means that the damn thing will seat five and have a split-folding rear bench, not unlike every other SUV in existence. Doors on the Concept remained firmly shut, preventing anyone from seeing what this social seating actually looks like. If Honda really wanted seating that is favoured by young adults, they need only equip the vehicle with five iPads and an Xbox.

Based on the upcoming Fit, the Urban SUV Concept has a planned release date of 2014. This vehicle and the soon-to-be-restyled Fit will reportedly be built at Honda’s new plant in Celaya, Mexico.



Matthew Guy
Matthew Guy

Matthew buys, sells, fixes, & races cars. As a human index of auto & auction knowledge, he is fond of making money and offering loud opinions.

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  • Thesparrow Thesparrow on Feb 20, 2013

    Marketing folks are acne on the face of humanity. Anything that is aimed at the "Youth Buyer" reeks of desperation and induces nausea in media-savvy younger people. Those with brains and/or those who are fortunate enough to land a job enabling them to pay for this will see through marketing gimmicks. That said, I kinda like it.

  • DeadWeight DeadWeight on Feb 21, 2013

    I have come to detest the CUV. It's a far less practical, COG impaired, but more 'stylish' (based on popular culture standards du jour), alternative to the station wagon AND EVEN the stylish hatchback (many hatchbacks have more rear leg room and just as much if not more cargo space as many CUVs). SUVs fulfill a real role for many that CUVs do not. I know my opinion is both in the distinct minority (based on sales volume) and literally idiotic if one is viewing vehicles from the perspective of auto company profit maximization, so no one needs to remind me of these things.

  • B-BodyBuick84 Not afraid of AV's as I highly doubt they will ever be %100 viable for our roads. Stop-and-go downtown city or rush hour highway traffic? I can see that, but otherwise there's simply too many variables. Bad weather conditions, faded road lines or markings, reflective surfaces with glare, etc. There's also the issue of cultural norms. About a decade ago there was actually an online test called 'The Morality Machine' one could do online where you were in control of an AV and choose what action to take when a crash was inevitable. I think something like 2.5 million people across the world participated? For example, do you hit and most likely kill the elderly couple strolling across the crosswalk or crash the vehicle into a cement barrier and almost certainly cause the death of the vehicle occupants? What if it's a parent and child? In N. America 98% of people choose to hit the elderly couple and save themselves while in Asia, the exact opposite happened where 98% choose to hit the parent and child. Why? Cultural differences. Asia puts a lot of emphasis on respecting their elderly while N. America has a culture of 'save/ protect the children'. Are these AV's going to respect that culture? Is a VW Jetta or Buick Envision AV going to have different programming depending on whether it's sold in Canada or Taiwan? how's that going to effect legislation and legal battles when a crash inevitibly does happen? These are the true barriers to mass AV adoption, and in the 10 years since that test came out, there has been zero answers or progress on this matter. So no, I'm not afraid of AV's simply because with the exception of a few specific situations, most avenues are going to prove to be a dead-end for automakers.
  • Mike Bradley Autonomous cars were developed in Silicon Valley. For new products there, the standard business plan is to put a barely-functioning product on the market right away and wait for the early-adopter customers to find the flaws. That's exactly what's happened. Detroit's plan is pretty much the opposite, but Detroit isn't developing this product. That's why dealers, for instance, haven't been trained in the cars.
  • Dartman https://apnews.com/article/artificial-intelligence-fighter-jets-air-force-6a1100c96a73ca9b7f41cbd6a2753fdaAutonomous/Ai is here now. The question is implementation and acceptance.
  • FreedMike If Dodge were smart - and I don't think they are - they'd spend their money refreshing and reworking the Durango (which I think is entering model year 3,221), versus going down the same "stuff 'em full of motor and give 'em cool new paint options" path. That's the approach they used with the Charger and Challenger, and both those models are dead. The Durango is still a strong product in a strong market; why not keep it fresher?
  • Bill Wade I was driving a new Subaru a few weeks ago on I-10 near Tucson and it suddenly decided to slam on the brakes from a tumbleweed blowing across the highway. I just about had a heart attack while it nearly threw my mom through the windshield and dumped our grocery bags all over the place. It seems like a bad idea to me, the tech isn't ready.
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