Honda E Ending Sales in Europe
It may have been cuter than a first-generation Civic but Honda’s entirely electric supermini didn’t last very long. Introduced in 2020, the Honda e is being pulled from the European market just one year after it was discontinued in its native Japan.
Despite being an objectively terrible value, everyone in the automotive industry is presently mourning the little turd because of its adorable looks, desirable handling, and dashboard made entirely of screens. But it likewise boasts a maximum range of 130 miles, which was only achievable under idyllic circumstances. Although test drivers have claimed difficulties even reaching 100 miles before having to charge the vehicle's 35.5-kWh lithium-ion battery.
The little car also starts around £37,000, which can be adjusted to roughly $46,500 USD using today’s exchange rates. Even with EV subsidies helping to knock off a few grand, that’s remains a lot of money to spend on an automobile that’s the size of a Mitsubishi Mirage. While you do get something that’s decidedly more modern and cabin that's nicer to occupy, it’s not clear the electric Honda made the better overall conveyance to live with. It's a special use case, best limited to those who probably aren't living with it as their only mode of transport.
We never got the model here because Honda had elected to produce the hatchback without mirrors, going against U.S. regulations. But it was also sized terribly for our market and too expensive, limiting any prospective volumes to metropolitan areas.
In Europe, the car appeared to be aimed at urban families with disposable incomes and/or the need for a secondary vehicle. The region saw 4,000 copies sold in its debut year of 2020. However, the number had dropped to 3,700 units in 2021 and just 2,100 examples by 2022. Some of that could be blamed on the pandemic having limited both production and sales. However, volumes never rebounded for the Honda e and were about half the volume it had been targeting.
Things weren’t going much better in Japan and Honda opted to end sales for the market in 2022.
The manufacturer recently confirmed with Top Gear that it’s planning to stop taking orders on the Honda e this year. Though the company claimed it was happy to have added “many new customers to the brand with its distinctive design, advanced technology and trademark Honda driving dynamics."
Honda is also known for making excellent gasoline engines, particularly the small kind that go into economy focused hatchbacks. One wonders what the Honda e might have been with a mild-hybrid setup that paired a small battery with a small fuel tank.
Considering this is an entirely new model Honda designed with electrification in mind, the company has presumably lost a sizable chunk of change on the little EV. Still, it’s not all bad news. The e has captured a lot of attention over the years and showcased that Honda’s design team still knew how to make attractive vehicles right before the company refreshed the exterior of practically every important model in the lineup. Today’s Hondas are some of the best-looking products the brand has had in years and the Honda e helped kick that off in 2020.
We imagine the minuscule EV will spend the next few years as toxic waste on the secondhand market. But it’s almost assuredly going to end up a collectable car someday. It’s incredibly unique, still very Honda, and the limited production volumes guarantee rareness.
[Images: Honda]
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A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
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The location/orientation of the charger port is highly questionable (to me).
Does it ever snow in the world where modern Honda 'designers' (stylists) and 'engineers' (right) live? No freezing rain either, one hopes.
(No blowing leaves. No dropping pine needles. No gravity, nor entropy. Life must be wonderful when your world is a computer screen -- make it 'pretty' and 'cute' and who cares if it works in the real world for more than three weeks.)
Someone's got to be the first to take the plunge (come on in, the water's fine). So hats off to Honda E as a trail blazer for mainstream EV.
To me, the range, price, and all those TV monitors were the big demerits. However, Honda learned a lot from the endeavor and can apply them to subsequent generations.
One of these will end up in an auto museum as an example of an early adopter.