Honda started slower than some rivals in developing electric vehicles (EVs). But it will catch up fast and catch up funky.
The company used this week’s giant CES consumer electronics show to reveal a pair of radically shaped future electric cars and plans for future technologies, including a new operating system named for a beloved old technology.
Honda’s Slow Start
Honda has just one electric car on sale in the U.S. today – the 2025 Prologue. It barely qualifies as a Honda. Built in partnership with General Motors, it has mostly GM parts. The Prologue shares a platform with the Chevy Blazer EV, Cadillac Lyriq, and other GM electric cars. Honda designers created its unique look, and Honda engineers tuned its performance. But it’s functionally a GM car in Honda clothing.
The Plan to Pick Up Speed
Honda has, however, built its own EV platform from the ground up. The company plans a new lineup of electric cars it calls the Honda 0 Series. They’ll use advanced self-driving technology and push AI voice assistants to new limits.
Honda used this week’s show to reveal a pair of them. Officially, both are concept cars – design studies meant to show what future cars might look like. Automakers often design wild, adventurous concepts, then tone them down significantly for production.
However, Honda says these two are intended for production and are likely to reach dealerships in 2026.
The 0 Saloon
First, let’s talk about the aggressive wedge that caught your eye above.
Officially, it’s called the Honda 0 Saloon, though we expect that name to change before it reaches American buyers. Much of the world uses the word “saloon” the way Americans use “sedan,” to mean a 4-door passenger car. Never mind that the vehicle you see is more of a wagon.
Small details about the 0 Saloon could change before production – it lacks mirrors, which are required under U.S. law. But Honda executives tell us the car you see is intended for production.
An angular wedge more in keeping with Lamborghini design traditions than Honda’s usual family-friendly aesthetic, it would instantly become one of the most unusual sights on American roads.
In person, the finished car is low, reaching just to the chest of an average-sized adult. Designers have used light to define its edges, with lines of LEDs defining many edges. In the rear, thin red LED lines create a tunnel effect around the Honda name. That leaves the driver with nearly no rear view, relying on cameras to see the traffic behind.
The interior includes thin seats built of a hard shell lined with softer padding. A 4-seater, the rear is closer to two molded bucket seats than a true bench.
The driver steers with a yoke rather than a steering wheel. A single flat screen surface takes up the entire dashboard.
The 0 Saloon is a striking vehicle – something you’d expect from an exotic automaker more than from Honda. Honda gave no performance details, saying only that the car is electric and uses “advanced battery chemistry.”
Related: How Solid-State Batteries Could Shape Our EV Future
The Honda 0 SUV
The second vehicle Honda debuted today looks more conventional, though it would still stand out in a 2025 parking lot. The Honda 0 SUV is shaped more like a traditional sport utility, though with a rear end suited for a “Star Trek” shuttle.
In front, a faux grille (EVs don’t need the airflow of a real grille) is glossy black while in motion. But on startup and shutdown, it’s revealed to be a matrix of pixels that flutter as if to show the car waking and going to sleep.
Thick rear pillars lead to a very small, high rear window. U-shaped red LEDs trace the shape of the tailgate. The faux grille and segmented lights from the front mark it as an EV, but they don’t look as radical as the front end of the Saloon.
It uses a more conventional seating arrangement than the 0 Saloon, with a true 3-seat bench in the rear. But, from the driver’s seat, the two vehicles are nearly identical – same yoke, same one wide screen dashboard.
Honda says the 0 SUV will go on sale before the Saloon, and once again, offers no performance details.
Asimo OS Uses Casual Conversation
While executives had little to say about the cars’ mechanical performance, they went out of their way to highlight the AI-based technology inside.
The operating system that powers the new cars borrows its name from Asimo, a humanoid robot Honda debuted back in 2000. About 4 feet tall, resembling an astronaut suited up for a spacewalk, Asimo became something of a mascot for Honda’s technology efforts before his 2022 retirement.
In spirit, he’s now something of an AI-driven operating system.
In a film shown to journalists, drivers conversed casually with their cars using the system. “At first, I was nervous,” says a driver. “But Saloon got to know me, “one explains. “Saloon knows my favorite color. Saloon knows when work goes well. … It comforts me when I’m sad.”
Related: Volkswagen Brings ChatGPT To Cars
The film showed a driver talking about a stressful work meeting with her car and the car asking empathetic questions. It did not show her using it to control climate and entertainment functions, but we assume the system can do that.
Level 3 Self-Driving Tech
The driver, however, could be somewhat optional in the 0 Series cars. To illustrate the point, the 0 Saloon drove itself around the stage behind executives as they talked.
Steven Frey, Honda Vice President of Development Operations, described the car’s automation systems as a Level 3 “eyes off” automation capability.
Related: Self-Driving Cars – Everything You Need to Know
Automakers use a ladder of five levels to describe their efforts toward a self-driving car. Most automakers currently sell a Level 2 system that can accelerate, brake, and steer itself (usually on a limited set of highways) with a driver ready to take over at any moment.
Honda is one of several automakers that each consider themselves the first company to achieve practical Level 3 technology, which allows drivers to look away from the road. Honda has Level 3 cars on the road in its home country of Japan. In the U.S., only Mercedes sells a Level 3 system, and it is legal only in Nevada and Northern California.
Related: First (Not) Drive Video – Mercedes-Benz Hands-Free Drive Pilot System
“The strength of our technology is that it can respond appropriately to irregular situations,” Frey said. The car models its environment, even down to logging the changing shapes and colors of roadside trees as the seasons change, he explains.
A demonstration showed the car recognizing and avoiding scraps of burst tire in a busy highway lane.
Honda executives are so bent on personifying the car that Frey slipped up at one point, stating, “The more you drive, the more you will love and trust him.” He corrected himself, “The more you will view it as your partner.”
We should note, however, that automated driving systems are governed by state laws. So far, the technology is not allowed beyond limited testing environments in most states.
An Advanced Gamble
Honda seemed cautious in its move toward EVs until today. The 0 Series vehicles, however, are a big swing.
They combine technologies many automakers are working toward, like self-driving technology, AI assistants, and new battery chemistries. In that, they’re hardly unique. Many automakers have a similar project.
But they are standout designs — something Honda has not often been known for. If the 0 Series Saloon reaches showrooms in this form, it will instantly be one of the most head-turning cars on the road.
We can’t evaluate its impact before it arrives, and particularly before Honda says anything about price. But a striking rolling wedge that learns your favorite color and asks you about your day at work would stand out in the current market.
A year from now, it’s likely to still seem like the future.