- The Honda 0 Series Saloon Concept is expected to go on sale in 2026.
- Honda says this model will be a Honda, not an Acura. It is planned to be Honda's flagship sedan.
- It will be made in Ohio, at Honda's new EV hub.
The electric vehicle market still continues to grow, but I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge that the growth comes with an asterisk. Sales results as well as commentary from analysts show that price is one of the biggest roadblocks to EV adoption. But lately, the fire-sale level lease deals and hefty incentives have no doubt customers in the driver’s seat – but let’s be honest here, most EV growth has been toward the lower cost end of the EV spectrum. People are yearning for cheap EVs; so it could be assumed that Honda’s first effort from its new self-developed would jump in feet first into the growing market of reasonably priced EVs.
But, no, it won’t. Honda’s executives confirmed that the production version of the 0 Series Saloon Concept won’t be all that cheap.
It’s kind of easy to see why, though. While in Japan at Honda’s Tochigi R&D facility, I learned a ton of details about Honda’s forthcoming EV. It’s going to be jam-packed full of cutting-edge softwaer, autonomous driving assistance features and chassis management tech. It will have an air suspension, support LIDAR and could potentially include Level 3 autonomous driving.
These are very advanced technologies, but they are definitely not cheap ones. LIDAR and air suspension are often reserved for expensive models.
Honda’s head of BEV development, Toshihiro Akiwa, confirmed that much during a roundtable Q&A session shortly after the drive event. The roadmap of Honda’s planned models using the 0 Series’ platform starts with the production of the Saloon concept, which will act as Honda’s flagship model for the entire brand.
The executives stopped short of confirming a specific price, but they did say it would be “less than a [Tesla] Model S or Model X,” but still solidly in the premium segment. And yes, when asked directly, it will be a Honda, not an Acura.
Similarly, Honda’s BEV Business Unit General Manager Mitsuru Kariya insisted that there’s no way for the 0 Series Saloon to be cheap since there are so many pieces of tech in the car as it’s meant to be a flagship model.
Now, this sounds slightly troubling. The EV market hasn’t been that kind to expensive sedans lately. The Lucid Air may have increased in sales, but the brand has openly struggled to move its very nice, but very pricy sedans. The sedan-shaped Volkswagen ID.7 is in limbo for the United States, with VW citing a changing market as to why its flagship EV sedan went from coming soon, to “well, maybe not.” Even at Tesla, the Model S is one of the brand’s worst-selling cars (although it's also gone without significant updates for years now.)
But Honda isn’t concerned. When I asked about the potential of the Saloon to enter a soft market for big expensive sedans, Kariya said that because Honda’s 0 Series will be such a new platform and design, they believe that alone will entice buyers into the vehicle. True, SUVs and crossovers dominate the sales charts. But Honda’s executives insist that the production Saloon’s design and tech focus will make it feel much more special compared to the typical EV crossover.
It still feels like a strange move, though. Robby DeGraff, Product and Consumer Insights Analyst at industry research firm AutoPacific, agrees.
“A higher-priced flagship EV in sedan format seems like a bold move for Honda to try and pull off," DeGraff said. "If it were maybe badged as an Acura or even more in-line sizing and pricing-wise with the Accord, then I think there’d be a greater potential for sales. Our research has shown there’s generally more of an interest in sedans amongst future EV buyers, credit the popular Model 3 of course, and that’s especially true amongst future Honda buyers who plan to go all-electric next."
According to AutoPacific's 2024 Future Attribute Demand Study, 52% of EV-interested Honda buyers surveyed are interested in sedans or hatchbacks from the brand, but not large ones. If they wanted an EV Honda sedan, they wanted a mid-sized sedan or smaller.
“The greatest interest is amongst mid-size sedans or 5-door hatchbacks (28%), considerably more than a larger flagship-type body style,” DeGraff said.
This isn’t all bad news, though. Honda’s executives were adamant that the 0 Series Saloon was merely the start of the brand’s EV push. They assured us that cheaper models would soon follow after the Saloon. It’s all outlined in Honda’s future EV plan: it plans for two more EV crossovers roughly the same prestige as the Saloon 0, but also a three-row SUV underneath, and eventually two more cheaper SUVs underneath that. Finally, its plans so far stop with a compact sedan that shouldn’t be priced too high.
The production version of the Honda Saloon 0 concept is expected to go on sale in 2026.
Correction 10/8/24 at 12:36 p.m.: An earlier version of this article mistakenly referred to Honda's new EV as the 0 Series. The correct name is the Honda 0 Series. The text has been updated to be correct. We regret the error.
Contact the author: kevin.williams@insideevs.com
