Honda has shown a new concept car hinting at a city-focused EV at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Named the Super EV Concept, it is an A-segment hatchback to rival the Hyundai Inster, Fiat 500e and upcoming Renault Twingo, with styling that draws on the previous Honda E supermini.
Technical details remain thin on the ground, but Honda said it is intended to show how a small, affordable EV can be fun to drive. It has already been tested in the UK as part of a broader international roll-out.
Honda has also used the event to showcase the radical 0 Series SUV concept in Europe for the first time, as well as the Civic Type R Ultimate Edition. The new Prelude coupé is running up the Goodwood hillclimb.
Any production version of the Super EV would likely represent the entry point to Honda's future EV line-up, sitting opposite the upmarket 0 Series range.
The Japanese brand plans to launch seven new EVs in the coming years, with these using a new platform, new batteries and new motor technologies, in an effective reset of its approach to electrification compared with the old E and current e:Ny1.
“As society is starting to move from the early stage to the widespread adoption stage, the time has come to invest in our EV strategy,” Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe told Autocar last year.
However, Honda is also going big on hybridisation, with 13 new models due globally by 2030 in a bid to bridge the gap to mass-adoption of battery-electric cars. These will use what the brand has claimed to be the most efficient combustion-engined powertrains yet.
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Looks really good and would make an excellent entry level car for the range and considering how Honda's market share has tanked over the past twenty years or so they certainly need one. The problem is that most 0f the Honda range is overpriced in the UK and if this came here how much would it cost? Honda products were once respected for their quality and reliability but now other manufacturers such as Hyundai & Kia have caught up with and passed them while selling their products for less money.
Honda had everything with the Urban. All they need to do is increase with the battery capacity, (modern battery tech would solve that) and lower the price.