The Honda e prototype is going to be used as the basis for a new Sports EV Concept car, according to Kohei Hitomi, Honda’s e prototype project manager. Speaking at the Geneva Motor Show in March, Hitomi confirmed that the e prototype would be used as the basis for a range of vehicles to create an entire EV family.
The production version of the Honda e prototype will be built on a brand new electric car platform. This platform has been designed for the production of Honda’s smallest electrified vehicles, where the e prototype will be a basis for a number of A- and B-segment electric cars.
The platform developed for the production of cars based on the Honda e prototype will also be used for Honda’s other small electric vehicles in the future. While it hasn’t yet been confirmed which cars this will be, it is looking likely that it will include a hot version of the e prototype and a production version of the Honda Sports EV Concept.
First shown at the 2017 Tokyo Motor Show, the Honda Sports EV Concept features a two-seat set-up with a striking appearance and styling that closely resembles the Honda Urban EV Concept car. It is a sports car with rear wheel drive and was intended to be a vision of the brand’s flagship performance car for the electric vehicle market. In this regard, the Honda Sports EV Concept would sit alongside models such as the Honda Civic Type R and the Honda NSX.
When asked if the new electric car platform would be suitable for a car such as the Honda Sports EV Concept, the Japanese manufacturer’s project manager did not confirm whether it would be used to bring the model to production or not. Instead, he said that the platform could be for any car. He went on to state that it could be used for both a sporty car or a box-type car, but ended by sharing that he would personally welcome a sporty car on the platform.
While speaking about the new platform, Hitomi did not give much away about the kind of design features we can expect to see when it comes to cars produced there. He commented that, “the fundamental technology is there and our colleagues in the design department are thinking in many directions.”
What Hitomi did disclose was that Honda does not anticipate a high demand for a high-performance variant of the e prototype because of the car’s good driving dynamics. However, he also said it hasn’t been ruled out.