Honda last year announced plans to launch a pair of sports models powered by batteries, and one of them has been confirmed as a sporty coupe that will likely go into production as a modern Prelude.
The confirmation came on Wednesday with the reveal of the Prelude concept at the 2023 Tokyo auto show, a concept that Honda said it was currently developing for production. Honda also made moves to renew the Prelude trademark earlier this year.
Despite being a concept, the Prelude on display in Tokyo looks ready for production. And while it may be an EV, there’s nothing to distinguish it from models powered by a gas engine, except perhaps a lack of exhaust tips.
Launched in Japan in 1978, the Prelude has traditionally been a sporty front-wheel-drive coupe that draped sleeker bodywork over reliable mechanical components shared with more mainstream models. Production ended after the 2002 model year, bringing to a conclusion an impressive run that spanned five generations.
Similarly, any modern Prelude powered by batteries will likely share its underpinnings with other Honda EVs in the works. Those underpinnings likely won’t be the Ultium platform and battery technology set Honda borrowed from General Motors for the 2024 Prologue and 2024 Acura ZDX crossovers.
Honda is known to be working on its own EV platform for medium and large-size models, the first of which is due in 2025 and likely to be a crossover. Honda is also working on a line of affordable EVs based on an additional platform being co-developed with GM as part of an extended collaboration between the two automakers. The first model on this jointly developed platform is due in 2027.
Honda plans to have at least 30 EVs available globally by 2030. One of these will be the second sports model announced last year, thought to be a new NSX supercar.
