Honda is going Electric in Europe and it Actually Looks Like Fun
Up till this point, if you wanted anything resembling excitement in your electric vehicle you had to have a lot of cash in your pocket. Honda has turned that idea on its head with the upcoming Honda E, a small RWD Retro-Future designed city car.
Bringing excitment to the consumer electric car
I think we can all admit that while the top tier of hybrid and electric cars have proven that technology can be exciting, the consumer-grade options have left a lot to be desired. The closest thing we ever got to an entry level EV/Hybrid was the Honda CR-Z, which proved to have the looks down, but not the performance. Well, Honda is up to bat again, this time with a small city car for European markets. So how do you add some excitement to a small city vehicle? Give it a retro-future body and RWD!
Images courtesy of Honda UK
Hope for the future
Now first things first, Project Lead Kohei Hitomi has said there are no plans to bring it's new all-electric Honda E to the United States due to different tastes in cars in different markets. While, as small car fans ourselves, it is frustrating to hear that idea spouted over and over again, it is unfortunately true. Most Americans do not buy small cars, let alone small EVs. But Hitomi did give a small glimmer of hope we will get to later.
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Debuting at Goodwood?
Normally a good looking body isn't enough to get us excited, about a car we mean. Normally, there has to be some sort of performance to back up the good looks. Unfortunately, no specs have been released yet ahead of its debut at the 2019 Goodwood Festival of Speed. Yes, that's right, the first time anyone sees this cute little car moving will be up the hill at Goodwood.
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Best wheel drive
Even without specs, it is fairly easy to assume the E will be a fun little car. First of all, the E is going to be best-wheel-drive, also known as rear-wheel-drive. The first RWD-only Honda car since the S2000! That, combined with the instant torque delivery of an electric motor, should mean burnouts and the cutest little donuts for days!
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The shape of things to come
While the E is not being released in the US, project director Hitomi did suggest that the smooth soft lines of the E could be a hint of Honda's future design direction. I would also suspect that things like the camera mirrors and smooth door handles are items that are going to to be finding their way to future models.
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Screens everywhere
The interior may be a hint of things to come from Honda as well. The E is unlike anything else in the current Honda lineup, with a more airy approach to the cabin space. Then there are the screens, five of them in total. Two for the mirrors and three for everything else. It’s illegal to use your phone when driving, but somehow this is fine. As much as screens are nice to have buttons do offer better tactile feedback when driving so it's nice to see Honda has not gone full Tesla and has included some.
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Other plans for America
As I said earlier, most of this is a moot point if you don’t live in Europe, but there is some good news. While the E itself is not coming to America, its electric platform is. Once again, Kohei Hitomi gave the news that there are “other plans” of using the platform for the US Given that the other car that originally debuted next to the E was the Sport EV shown above. There may be some hope of Honda throwing its hat into the electric sports car game!
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Still a Honda at the end of the day
While most people here at Honda-Tech are for sure petrol heads, there is no doubt that electric is the way the future is heading. So long as manufacturers keep making interesting, fun cars, then enthusiasts are sure to buy them. And given that it's a Honda, it's a sure thing that people are going to modify them. The future of modification and tuning is going to look a lot different, but if it's with cars like the Honda E or Sport EV, at least it will look good.
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