Honda fans around the globe were absolutely abuzz in June, 2022—and for good reason. That’s when Honda Spain first gave us a look at design sketches for the new Honda Hornet Concept. Not only that, but it also published a behind-the-scenes video, giving us insight into the process and thinking that have contributed to its creation. I don’t know about you, but I think that kind of stuff is always fascinating to see.
While we knew that it was a Honda Europe design effort, including serious input from Honda Italia, the only signup page to find out more information about the Honda Hornet was previously hosted on Honda Spain’s webpage. Now that it’s August, 2022, there’s a new signup page for Hornet information on the Honda Italia site—and even better, there’s a new Hornet video.
This time, it’s hosted on Honda Italy’s Facebook page. Although it’s just 15 seconds long, and it still doesn’t show us a whole lot—it does, at least, give us a very nice auditory teaser for the bike. Most people have been speculating that it will be a 750cc twin—and from the sound of this video, they’re not wrong to do so.
You don’t have to take our word for it, though. Connect your headphones, run this video a few times, and listen for yourself. See what you think. The last slide at the end of the video displays the new Hornet logo, along with the tag line, “Shake up the hive.” Meanwhile, the text accompanying the video roughly translates to, “the hive is in turmoil! Are you ready for the return of a legend?” It then invites you to go to Honda Italia’s signup page to input your information and stay up-to-date on all the latest new Hornet info.
As of August 2, 2022, Honda still hasn’t officially announced the Hornet as anything other than a concept. However, with the amount of teasing that the company is doing, it seems highly unlikely that it’s going to stay a concept for much longer. Given the timing of this ramp-up, it’s entirely believable that Honda could be planning to officially introduce a production Hornet at EICMA 2022.
Speculation has been swirling about that possibility, as well as a Transalp 750 based around the same engine—and a video like this only adds fuel to the fire. However, as always, it’s just speculation until the point when it isn’t. We’ll have to wait and see what Honda shows us, when it shows it to us.
