Way back at last year’s CES, Honda rolled out two concepts for its electric future: The Saloon, a Countach-looking wedge, and a screen-covered van called the Space Hub. Now, a year later, the Space Hub has become has evolved into something much nearer to production: A new concept called the 0 SUV.
The Space Hub, at its initial reveal, was a cabover van with plenty of glass, a screen for a grille, and an interior laid out like a conversation pit — every seat behind the driver facing every other, so passengers can chat amongst themselves. It wasn’t the sort of concept that anyone expects to see go to production, yet its hallmarks are here in the new 0 SUV. Not unchanged, but recognizable.
The Space Hub had a white base, with black pillars and a matching roof in the front of the t0p before the body color swooped up in the rear. That same layout is now found on the 0 SUV, with its light color accentuating the chiaroscuro — just like the Space Hub before it. Sure, the 0 SUV isn’t a cabover, but if you mentally slide that windshield back along the Space Hub’s beltline you can begin to see the 0 SUV take form. Look from the back, and the similarities are even more clear.
Look at the way the tail lights wrap around, the design of the rear bumper. The 0 SUV clearly follows in the Space Hub’s design footsteps, while eschewing the extremely cool but market-impractical cabover van shape for something that will sell a little better: A practical, reasonably-sized crossover.
The van is leagues more interesting, no questions there — even its name echoes the old Delica Space Gear, something the new 0 SUV can’t claim — but North American car buyers want what they want. No matter how much we Jalops want more diversity in automotive design, this is the form factor that sells. Write your congressional representative about it or something.
The 0 SUV — which is not necessarily guaranteed to be the crossover’s actual name at launch — ends up looking like Honda’s take on Volvo’s current design language. Boxy, upright, squared-off, rear light bars–all the hallmarks are there. It may be yet another midsize crossover, but at least it’s a pretty one.
Honda says the 0 SUV is set to hit North American markets in the first half 2026, with the company’s new ASIMO OS at its core and the capability for Level 3 semi-autonomy once U.S. regulators decide to allow semi-autonomous tech to prowl our streets with only intermittent supervision. The company didn’t discuss exact costs for the car, but said that it would “meet the market” — the mass-market counterpart to the Saloon’s halo.