#honda

Honda has not been the fastest automaker to the EV table, but it’s slowly announcing new models. The Prologue SUV developed in partnership with GM will be first, but Honda also has vehicles in the works with Sony and others in-house. The automaker recently announced a new EV to be shown at next year’s CES show in January, and what we can see of the design suggests a radical shape.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is expanding a probe into over 500,000 late-model Hondas that could be suffering from a steering defect. Reports indicate that 2023 Honda CR-Vs, 2023 Acura Integras, and 2022-2023 Honda Civics could be affected. However, no formal recall announcement has been made and likely won’t be until the investigation has concluded.

It was gloomy when I landed in Los Angeles last week. Gloomy enough that it put me in a sour mood -- despite living in the Midwest, I like sun.

The same cloud cover that prevented me from getting a view of the city upon approach to LAX painted downtown in a shade of grey that would be right at home in some depressing movie about urban malaise.

Then, on Thursday, the sun came out. Just in time for this year's sole media day.

Today we bring you one of the original hot hatches -- a 1991 Honda CRX Si.

In any urbanized area, parking sucks. City planners hate dealing with parking because those spaces use up land that could be productively used for housing or commercial use. Drivers hate parking in town due to the hassles of finding a scarce spot, as well as the risk of vehicle damage due to the cramped quarters. Fun fact - nearly every automaker, when signing over vehicles for testing to journalists, forbids urban street parking due to the risk of damage.

So much talk has gone into “last mile solutions” within the urban planning space. It’s the idea that commuters might drive to a decentralized parking location, disembark, and find a better way into town. Right now, the idea seems far-fetched, but a stroll through any big city reveals scores of rental scooters and bicycles mixed in with privately owned two-wheelers. There is a market there, but it remains to be seen how big the market is.

It’s perhaps not surprising then that Honda is the automaker stepping up to give this new market a try. After all, the company came here first as a purveyor of small, friendly motorcycles long before four-wheelers entered the chat. With the new Honda Motocompacto, the company is banking on the idea that individualized urban transport can possibly be cool.

Sitting as Honda’s entrant into the brutally competitive midsize two-row crossover game, the Passport walks a decent line between the smaller CR-V and three-row Pilot. For 2024, its prices creep slightly northward – except for one trim which will force customers to open their wallets just a little bit further.

Score one for the gearheads. At this year’s Japan Mobility Show (yes, it – like many other auto shows – has changed its name to include that irritating catch-all word), Honda president Toshihiro Mibe rolled out a two-door coupe called the Prelude. It’s a concept for now, of course, but our hopes are buoyed by one phrase uttered by Mibe during the car’s introduction.

Appealing to customers who’d like a dose of electrons with their new Civic – or, perhaps more likely, appeasing dealers whining about the existence of a Corolla Hybrid, the crew at Honda is rolling out an electrified variant of the popular Civic next year.

How do you make your citified large crossover seem a bit more rugged to appeal to consumers who either spend their weekends playing outdoors or those who plan to play outdoors but never actually do? You play a little dress-up.

In last week’s installment of Abandoned History, we learned about General Motors’ 1966 magnet-based primitive navigation system, DAIR. The inclusive system featured emergency messages, traffic bulletins played inside the car, and route guidance. DAIR never progressed beyond the concept stage and two total test vehicles, largely because it would have meant buried magnets and accompanying signal relay stations at every major intersection in the country. Some 25 years later The General tried it again, but technology progressed considerably by that point.

Honda has formally unveiled the all-electric Prologue, indicating that the brand hasn’t given up on electrification. The midsize crossover boasts an agreeable estimated range of (up to) 300 miles and is designed to cater to more mainstream tastes.

As a preeminent manufacturer of modestly sized combustion engines, it makes sense that the company would want to stick to what it knows best. Like several other Japanese brands, Honda has been hesitant to embrace electric vehicles with the same zeal as its European or American rivals. However, external pressures are beginning to force the issue, and this seemed an agreeable solution for the company.

Ford, Honda, and BMW have announced plans to create a new “vehicle-to-grid company” that’s aimed at standardizing vehicle charging via a singular platform. The service also seeks to return excess energy to the electrical grid, effectively converting EVs into publicly shared batteries.

The business will be known as ChargeScape and, according to the automakers' press release, seeks to “create a single platform that will seamlessly connect electric utilities, automakers and their interested EV customers to manage energy usage for a broad pool of EVs.” The scheme could be one way of addressing concerns that modern power grids couldn’t endure widespread electric vehicle usage while helping to position the involved companies in an industry that’s being heavily incentivized by the government.

Believe it or not, Honda’s been around in the U.S. for decades, and to Celebrate, the automaker opened the American Honda Collection Hall to show some of its most iconic models. The display will be open during regular "Cars and Coffee" events starting in October.

Honda and Acura leaned on General Motors’ Ultium technology to accelerate electric vehicle development, so it’s unsurprising to see the Japanese automakers following their American counterpart’s lead in some areas. GM announced that its new EVs would move to Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS), and American Honda Motor Company’s CEO recently confirmed that the Japanese automaker would follow suit.

While Acura recently unveiled its first production EV, the 2024 ZDX crossover, during Monterey Car Week, the model didn’t quite reach the ridiculous levels of extravagance the event is known for. Fortunately, the company had something in its back pocket with the “Performance Electric Vision Design” concept it teased in tandem with the all-electric ZDX.