LAS VEGAS — After Honda introduced its new all-electric 0 Sequence at CES this week, suffice it to say we had questions. Thankfully for us, Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe was there to share the information in individual. Together with different chosen media, we had the chance to ask something we preferred concerning the forthcoming platform and Honda’s plans for its rollout right here in the US beginning in 2026. Listed below are 5 key issues we discovered about this new platform and the vehicles it’ll underpin.
We might even see one earlier than the Saloon arrives in 2026
Whereas Honda has promised it’ll launch a manufacturing mannequin based mostly on the ‘Saloon’ idea in North America in 2026, one other 0 Sequence automobile may very well arrive on the similar time — and even sooner. What type that will take is anyone’s guess, as Mibe remained shy concerning the particulars. For now, deal with 2026 because the onerous deadline and rule nothing out.
It’s going to broaden to new segments
At launch, 0 Sequence will probably be a “mid-large” platform, which we are able to take to imply midsize for sensible functions. This may assist vehicles of equal dimension to Honda’s present Accord and Passport together with the Odyssey minivan (take a detailed take a look at that Area Hub idea beneath). Honda plans to supply 0 Sequence fashions with totally different footprints later. A small-car platform appropriate for subcompact, midcompact and compact choices (suppose Honda Metropolis, HR-V, Civic, CR-V, and so forth.) will observe later, as will an excellent bigger platform, which we might count on to be utilized for a Pilot equal. Although the prevailing ICE-powered Pilot and its different sibling, the Ridgeline are midsizers driving on the identical platform because the aforementioned Passport, these are as huge as Honda’s vehicles and crossovers get. If the mid-large platform might accommodate such choices, it stands to motive {that a} bigger one would not be obligatory.
It has not broken Honda’s relationship with GM
Mibe dismissed any perceived rift between Honda and Normal Motors ensuing from the dissolution of their settlement to construct a line of small vehicles on GM’s Ultium EV platform. The businesses parted methods over a need to method their long-term electrification methods otherwise, not over any technological limitations or constraints offered by the Ultium platform itself, Mibe mentioned, and the 2 firms are nonetheless working collectively to develop autonomous expertise using parts of GM’s Cruise division.
“Our relationship is nice with GM,” Mibe mentioned.
It already has an expiration date
Whereas Mibe believes the 0 Sequence will evolve considerably over the lifetime of the platform, Honda has already outlined its lifecycle. It’s anticipated to shoulder Honda’s EV efforts from 2026 till 2031 or 2032, at which period will probably be phased out. In favor of what? Mibe would not say, however he did level out that the automotive business continues to be collectively ready for the important thing generational breakthrough in battery tech that can allow really inexpensive EVs. Whether or not that finally ends up being widespread availability of solid-state batteries or one thing else solely stays to be seen, however it nonetheless stays firmly sooner or later in the intervening time.
In any occasion, the 0 Sequence will flip right into a pumpkin earlier than the center of the subsequent decade. Deliberate obsolescence or simply one other inevitability of progress? You resolve.
Acura will do its personal factor
The 0 Sequence because it has been introduced to date is restricted to the Honda model. Whereas the corporate has plans for Acura, they will not merely be 0 Sequence retreads, Mibe advised us. Given the realities of recent automotive manufacturing, we take that to imply that Acura’s platform will get its personal title and its autos will get solely distinctive bodywork. Till Honda shares extra particulars, we’ll simply have to attend and see.
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