Honda Prologue: The Japanese brand shows an overview of its electric SUV

And this, even if Mitsubishi (I-MIEV of 2009) and Nissan (Leaf in 2010) had done a pioneer in the electric, long before the European models. Better still: the mini-city of Mitsubishi had been broadcast in Europe by. Peugeot (Ion) and Citroën (C-Zéro). But neither Mitsubishi nor Nissan have been successful in the archipelago. In question: “significant costs of batteries at the time, and consequently high sales prices”, reminds AFP Kenichiro Wada, former head of the development of I-MIEV.

Why Japan does not believe too much in electric auto, nationalism obliges

Far from the drastic decisions of Brussels, who wants to sacrifice petrol and diesel cars for the benefit of all-electric, the Japanese government is focusing on hybrid and much longer on hydrogen. If electric cars represent more than 15% of the French market, they only attract 1.7% of Japanese. Tokyo takes care to preserve the technological choices of its national manufacturers.

Challenges – N. Miller
Why Japan does not believe too much in electric auto, nationalism obliges
Alain-Gabriel Verdevoye
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The whole electric is planned a priori for 2035 in Europe. In the meantime, registrations for new so-called zero emission vehicles curled the 15% bar of the West European market last year (15.4% in the first quarter of 2023 in France). Sales are also booming in China, where electricity has 20% of the market. Even in the United States, country of large SUVs and pick-ups much more reluctant to electrification, non-thermal cars exceeded 5% penetration in 2022. But, paradoxically, Japan, which was at the forefront of innovation from the 90s to the decade 2010, does not believe it much. Less than 60.000 new electric cars were thus sold in 2022 in the archipelago. Or 1.7% of the Japanese market. A stammering.

And this, even if Mitsubishi (I-MIEV of 2009) and Nissan (Leaf in 2010) had done a pioneer in the electric, long before the European models. Better still: the mini-city of Mitsubishi had been broadcast in Europe by. Peugeot (Ion) and Citroën (C-Zéro). But neither Mitsubishi nor Nissan have been successful in the archipelago. In question: “significant costs of batteries at the time, and consequently high sales prices”, reminds AFP Kenichiro Wada, former head of the development of I-MIEV.

25 million hybrids

Akio Toyoda, the boss of Toyota from 2009 until April 1, did not believe it. The Japanese firm, which had created the hybrid motorization (petrol + extra duct) with the first Prius of 1997, sold nearly 25 million vehicles in the world since. Honda, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Suzuki, also started. Japan is suddenly the world’s leading market for hybrids. These weighed 42% of total car sales, excluding import (90% of the market), in 2022, against 13.6% in France in the first quarter of 2023.

Japanese manufacturers like Toyota and especially Mitsubishi then put on the rechargeable hybrid. Sign of times: unveiled world premiere in Japan and the United States last November, presented in Europe on December 5, the Toyota Prius 5 will be available exclusively with a rechargeable hybrid and no longer hybrid motorization. But the rechargeable hybrid remains relatively marginal in Japan.

Reluctance on electric

After a lot of reluctance, Honda finally released a first electric model, the Honda E, in 2020. Toyota, for its part, marketed in the spring of 2022 its zero emission SUV BZ4X, first in the rope of a real offensive in the matter. Nissan launched Ariya then a cubic mini-car, Sakura, which represents a third of electricity sales in Japan. Honda and Toyota, however, remain cautious on electric. Even in Europe, a market where states have decided to quickly sacrifice traditional petrol and diesel vehicles, Toyota plans to barely make “10% of its sales with electric and hydrogen vehicles by 2025, alongside 70 % hybrids, 10% rechargeable hybrids and 10% petrol models “, according to the president of his European subsidiary Matt Harrison.

Toyota therefore remains a marginal actor on this electric segment. In 2022, its sales of such vehicles totaled less than 25.000 units. The group announces this Friday that it intends to sell in 2026 1.5 million 100% electric vehicles in 2026. Which would only represent only 12-13% of its alleged total volumes on this horizon ! Toyota cannot be lagging behind, given the movement to so -called zero emission models in Europe and China.

Number one in the world’s world has it is true, in the longer term, on “a real takeoff of hydrogen, after 2025”, according to Didier Leroy, ex-executive vice-president of the Japanese firm. Toyota was the promoter with his compatriot Honda (and Korean Hyundai). The largest Japanese manufacturer had launched its first hydrogen car at the end of 2014, Mirai. For the Paris Olympic Games in 2024, he even plans to provide thousands of cars and fuel cell buses. Very brief recharge time and autonomy comparable to that of a petrol model, according to Toyota, the electric flaws. His efforts in hydrogen will however be redirected to the heavyweights, while the sales of Mirai lift to a few thousand copies per year. Japan targets 100% sales of “electrified” cars by 2035. With an important place of hydrogen vehicles and hybrids. Because, less dogmatic than Brussels, the Japanese government includes in electrified… hybrid cars, always considered as key energy technology. Pragmatism and nationalism oblige.

Honda Prologue: The Japanese brand shows an overview of its electric SUV

Finally an electric car ! Honda will have taken her time before finding a successor at the Honda E. This one names prologue and he goes in a diametrically opposed direction.

Honda is long overdue on the electric market. After a particularly noticed Honda e (and not only for its price), the Japanese manufacturer was more discreet. Until these last hours, at least. Because since this weekend, the manufacturer has published a video in which he presents his future SUV via a very successful concept: the prologue. This project is not entirely new for Honda. The manufacturer had also revealed its intention to turn massively to the SUV market at the Shanghai Show in the spring of 2021.

The prologue is therefore the first step in this strategic turn which aims to replace the brand in the race for electric transition. If the prologue seems well advanced, it should not happen on the roads before 2024. If the calendar is respected, it is the American roads that will see it first. Indeed, the future Honda SUV is the result of a partnership with General Motors: the family vehicle will rest on the new American manufacturer’s platform, Ultium. The other particularity of the prologue is that it will automatically become the first electric Honda marketed in the United States. Indeed, the Japanese firm had judged the “e” too small for the American market and wanted to make its entry with a more suitable vehicle. The video published by Honda gives very few indications on the other than aesthetics of the Grand SUV. Honda explains what was the creative process behind the prologue’s pencil stroke, gives some indications on the working methods of her Los Angeles studio, but for technical characteristics, we will have to wait.

It is all the more frustrating that it would have been interesting to know what was the technical bias of Honda concerning this great SUV. Indeed, Ultium is a modular platform which can also accommodate 400 V and 800 V systems, but also very large single or double floor battery sizes. Above all, the main characteristic of the platform is that it is based on an almost wireless battery management (90% cables and connectors less than a traditional electric car, according to Fiona Meyer Teruel, the Head of GM electronic systems).

With the Honda E, the Japanese manufacturer had bet on an ultra futuristic interior city dweller. The rest of the electric adventure at Honda has something of a complete antithesis of this first draft. The small city car has turned into SUV. As for the technical feat which was visible as soon as one climbed aboard the Honda E, it could well be located in the bowels of the prologue.