The Honda 0 Sequence Saloon idea is a take a look at the corporate’s future. It is all-electric. It has a steer-by-wire system. It is sure for manufacturing in some (modified) kind. However in a single key approach, it seems that idea additionally a nod to the previous.

As Threads person @d2lo identified in the present day, the Saloon seems to be an terrible lot like an idea Honda trotted out in Tokyo. We’re not speaking concerning the Prelude, from Tokyo 2023, right here, although. Approach again in 2003, Honda unveiled the Kiwami, proven beneath:

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Wedge-shaped automobiles excel at aerodynamics

Aerodynamics have loads to do with effectivity, which is extra essential than ever within the EV period. If somebody at Honda determined to resurrect a 21-year-old thought for a brand new EV, that wedge form is an efficient technique to go.

The wedge-like form, the full-width mild bar, and the entrance 3/4 angle actually reminds us of the Saloon. Rear-end design, nonetheless, has modified loads within the final 21 years.

So too has our imaginative and prescient of what’s going to energy the long run. The Saloon is totally electrical, as you’d count on from an idea automotive proven in 2024 and set for manufacturing in 2026. The Kiwami, nonetheless, predates the fashionable deal with battery-electric automobiles. As a substitute, Honda mentioned the idea was a hydrogen fuel-cell automobile.

20 years on, Honda remains to be one of many largest proponents of hydrogen automobiles. Actually, within the 21 years between the Kiwami and the Saloon, many got here to criticize Honda for being late to the long-range EV sport, in no small half attributable to its perception in hybrids and hydrogen automobiles.

The Saloon continues Honda’s pivot towards a future wherein battery-electric automobiles play a significant position. The Kiwami proves, nonetheless, that Honda’s been making an attempt to design the following era of zero-emission automobiles for 20 years. Like the remainder of the world, it simply did not notice how rapidly electrical automobiles might take off.

The large query is simply how a lot the Saloon Idea will truly translate to a manufacturing automotive (it does not actually appear to be your subsequent Accord, does it?), however at the least we all know Honda’s had wedges on its thoughts for a very long time now.