Honda on Tuesday announced that later in October, at the Japan Mobility Show, formerly called the Tokyo Motor Show, it plans to reveal an electric sports car and a sustainability-focused compact car.
The electric sports car, called Specialty Sports Concept, will celebrate “the joy of driving and distinctive individuality” and help transcend everyday life—amounting to a pleasurable driving car even in an era of automated driving technology and a focus on carbon footprint.
It's yet unclear whether this is the same project as the rumored electric revival of the Acura NSX, which was a hybrid last time around, or whether this is a new, more compact EV sports car.
Be forewarned, Honda has a record of showing exciting electric sports-car concepts and ultimately deciding not to build them. Such was the case with the 2011 EV-ster concept, which gave an edgy new twist to influences from the CRX and del Sol. The automaker teased fans again with the jaw-dropping Sports EV coupe concept (above) shown in 2017—bearing retro influences from the 1960s Honda S600 sports coupe.
Honda Sustaina-C
A second world-premiere car concept, called the Sustaina-C Concept, is made of an acrylic resin that can be recycled and reused as part of a “resource circulation” scheme—taking advantage of the limited availability of resources while also achieving greater sustainability. It appears to be an attractive new hatchback design as well and might hint at a successor to the retro-cute Honda E. Honda is applying the same acrylic material to a Pocket Concept mini-motorcycle.
Also at the show, Honda plans to reveal an electric motorcycle that uses swappable batteries, bypassing the wait for charging and perhaps expanding the use of renewable energy for EVs. Those so-called Honda Mobile Power Pack e: batteries will also be shown in “various electric products,” the company says.
Honda Mobile Power Pack - CES 2018
Further, a two-seat, four-wheel autonomous minicar called the CI-MEV and Honda Autonomous Work Vehicle will harness autonomous or automated driving tech. Finally, although it's set to be U.S.-focused and American-built, the Prologue electric SUV will show up in Tokyo. Look for Green Car Reports to dig into these and other surprise mobility twists in coverage from the show’s press days, starting Oct. 26.
