Tokyo - Honda has announced that its upcoming electric hatch will simply be called the ‘Honda e’.
Set to go into production later this year, the hatch was shown in prototype form at the Geneva Motor Show in March this year, where it was also revealed that it would be built on a brand new rear-wheel-drive platform created specifically for future electric vehicles.
Although the near-production prototype is not as cute as the earlier Urban EV Concept that was shown at the Frankfurt show back in 2017, it still has plenty of retro vibes both inside and out as Honda hopes to create some novelty value to help justify what will likely be a high asking price, due to batteries still being on the expensive side.
Interesting design features on the concept include pop-out door handles and a black panel with LED backlighting to replace the front grille, while the side mirrors have been replaced by a camera-based set-up. Inside you’ll find a horizontal arrangement of screens that spans the entire width of the dashboard, while the rest of the design remains fairly minimalistic.
The Honda e will boast a range of more than 200km between charges, Honda says, and will be capable of charging to 80 percent in 30 minutes at a fast-charging facility.
The Honda e forms part of the company’s Electric Vision’ strategy will see all its vehicles offering some form of electrification by 2025. Most of these will be hybrids, chief among them the next-generation Jazz that’s set to debut later this year, sporting Honda’s advanced new hybrid system.