American Honda’s first electric SUV is still three years away from dealerships and driveways, but now we know what it’ll be called when it gets here. Named Prologue, and expected to arrive in 2024, the EV is the first of two vehicles Honda is developing with GM. The other, as yet unnamed SUV will be sold as an Acura.
The word ‘prologue’ refers to something being a prelude to something bigger, and that’s no coincidence. This first EV is just the first of a wave of electric Hondas and Acuras destined to hit U.S. streets before the decade is out as Honda makes progress on its target to sell only zero emissions vehicles by 2040, up from 80 per cent in 2035, and 40 per cent in 2030. And much like Ford has done with the Mach-E, it won’t hurt Honda’s marketing effort to reassure buyers during this radical model range shakeup by reminding them of the popular Prelude coupe of the 1980s and 1990s.
Honda hasn’t released any solid details about the Prologue, Dave Gardner, executive vice president of American Honda saying only that “The Prologue will provide our customers with a battery-electric SUV with the excellent functionality and packaging they’ve come to expect from Honda.” But Honda has previously said that its engineers and stylists will be responsible for the exteriors and interiors of the two new EVs, while GM’s team will take car of the platform and complicated drivetrain stuff, which will incorporate GM’s new Ultium battery technology. Both cars will be built at GM plants.
Despite being one of the pioneers of electrification with the Japanese-market EV Plus from the late 1990s, giving America its first hybrid car, in the form of the Insight, a handful of years later, and then putting hydrogen-powered cars into public hands, Honda has fallen behind in the EV race. The cute Honda E hatch (pictured below) available in Japan and Europe isn’t currently available in North America, and there are no plans to change that.
