The Honda 0 Series: Everything You Need to Know

It looks like the Bizzarrini Manta, and it’s coming to North America in 2026.

Published February 2, 2024

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Honda has had a sluggish start to the modern electric vehicle era, at least in Noth America. The Japanese brand’s first effort, the Prologue, is finally launching in 2024 — but it’s based on GM’s Ultium platform, and is in many ways a sibling to the Chevy Blazer EV. EVs fully developed by Honda aren’t expected to arrive in America until later this decade.

But at CES 2024 in January, Honda offered us the best preview of what that will look like. The brand rolled out two new “0 Series” concepts, the Saloon and the Space Hub. And as wild as they look, they’re actually close to what we’ll see on the road soon.

Here’s what you need to know about the Honda 0 Series of next-gen electric cars.

What is the Honda 0 Series?

Honda

Honda says the 0 Series name symbolizes that the brand is “starting from the beginning” to create a new type of EV. The mantra the brand is using for development is “thin, light and wise.” That should mean more efficient packaging and advanced technology in practice.

The Saloon (a.k.a. sedan) model is heading to production

Honda has confirmed it is building a production car based on the Saloon concept, which looks a great deal like the Bizzarrini Manta concept from the 1960s — we’d also accept hand vacuum. And it is coming to North America in 2026.

According to Autocar, a closely-related SUV model will follow shortly after.

And we may get affordable 0 Series cars … eventually

Honda told Autocar it is targeting the late 2020s for more affordable EVs — think on the price level of the Honda Civic — to arrive. Honda CEO Toshihiro Mobe said that Honda “needs more affordable EVs” and would “think about battery technology” to help produce them.

Honda will work with other partners to produce these affordable EVs after a planned partnership with GM fell through.

Is Honda’s 0 Series sedan actually going to look like that?

Potentially, yes. Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe said the production model will be “based very close on this concept,” even going so far as to tell Autocar that the production version will “90 percent keep this appearance.”

What does actually that mean? It’s unclear at this stage.

We do know that concept cars tend to be wilder than production versions. A concept’s point is to grab attention — this one certainly did — and they aren’t constrained by sales or road-worthiness concerns.

Honda also described the production version of the Saloon as a “flagship” model. That suggests it’s going to be more expensive and lower volume than your average Honda, which would free up Honda to go weirder and more avant-garde than usual. The electric take on the Accord might look more like the new Toyota Prius.

In short, the production Honda 0 Series Saloon could look like a super-aero Lotus Elite Type 75. But we’d bet against gull-wing doors. (We wouldn’t bet against it showing up in the U.S. as an Acura, however.)

The 0 Series cars should feature advanced driving tech

Honda isn’t making any bold claims about Level 4 autonomy, but Honda says the 0 Series cars will feature an advanced driver assistant system with hands-off operations that will work on both expressways and local roads. (The brand offers a similar Level 3 system in Japan.) The cars will also use advanced AI and other features to improve the user experience.

And Honda wants to improve fast-charging

The gold standard for fast charging currently is Hyundai’s E-GMP platform, which can deliver a “full charge” in 18 minutes. Honda wants its 0 Series vehicles to bring that 15-to-80-percent charge time down to 10–15 minutes.

Honda is also focused on making its batteries last longer. The brand’s target is 10 percent degradation over 10 years of use.

Is Honda building a production Space Hub?

Honda did not make any mention of the flexible Space Hub van concept heading to production yet. But we suspect there’s a reason it was the second concept…. and the brand didn’t rule it out.

Oh, by the way — Honda has a new logo for EVs

EVs must have EV-specific branding, of course. Honda’s 0 Series electric vehicles, as such, will feature a new logo. It’s still an H, but it’s thinner and borderless compared with the existing one that’s been around since before Superintendent Chalmers bought his Accord in the ’90s. The new look is sort of a throwback to the Honda logo from the 1960s.