Honda will replace the Jazz and Civic with affordable electric cars.
Honda will replace the Jazz and Civic with affordable electric cars.
During the last CES (Consumer Electronics Show) 2024, held in Las Vegas in early January, Honda announced the creation of a new family of battery-powered electric cars called “0 Series.” The Japanese firm took advantage of the occasion to show conceptual previews of its first two members, a radical sedan with a wedge-shaped profile (Saloon) and a large minivan (Space-Hub).
The first to hit the market will be the Saloon since its launch is scheduled for 2026. According to Autocar, the second member of this subrange will be an SUV closely related to the previous model. In other words, the crossover would be to the sedan that the Tesla Model Y is to the Model 3.
Later, the offer will be completed with two entry-level proposals called to replace the Jazz and Civic in the B (utility) and C (compact) segments respectively. Honda’s head of automotive operations, Shinji Aoyama, has even ventured to give a date for its arrival: “Towards the end of the 2020s.”
At the moment, it is unclear whether Honda will maintain its current naming system. Given that Civic is a well-established name internationally, it is unlikely that the brand will discard it; In addition, some rumors indicate that the company’s next electric flagship (possibly the production version of the Saloon prototype) will resume the Legend name.
Honda will use more affordable batteries to make its electric future cheaper.
«To increase volumes, we need more affordable electric vehicles. Instead of reducing [the size] of the pack, we want to think about battery technology,” explains Toshihiro Mibe, CEO of Honda, stating that its future electric access cars could use cells with cheaper chemistry to maintain costs.
These statements contrast with those made last year by Rebecca Adamson, head of Honda Motor Europe’s automobile division when announcing the discontinuation of the small Honda E due to its low sales. «There will be no more cars the size of the Honda E. I can say that with confidence. The demand […] is directed to the SUV sector, which is why the focus is there. “As long as that is the market, we will continue to push SUVs.”
Although in the short term, Honda will continue to focus on models such as the e: Ny1 compact SUV, it is notable that it also plans to launch economical electric vehicles in the most popular categories on the market.
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