Goodbye to Adorable Honda E

No Affordable Replacements in US

Though the Honda E was not available for sale in the United States, it is with some sadness we note its impending discontinuation. An announcement from the Japanese Honda website stated that production of the vehicle would terminate in January 2024. The kewpie-doll style exterior and high-tech interior befitting an Acura could not sustain the car, and after only three years on the market since its debut in 2020, the Honda E is being retired.

The meager five-door hatchback was ill-suited to the US market because of its small size and insignificant range. The 35.5 kWh battery provided a meager 137 miles of drive time, even less than the upcoming Fiat 500e for the American market. On the bright side, the E produced considerable power for its size, 134 hp, 151 hp, or 232 lb-ft of torque for the rear wheels. It managed 0-60 in eight seconds, but the lowly battery could recharge in just 30 minutes.

The specs seem quite suitable for a city electric vehicle; however, the extremely hefty prices from $38,000 to $42,000 make the Honda E very hard to market globally. Even though it has the fanciest interior ever included in a non-Acura model from Honda, this pricing remains to be highly expensive. We would like to observe Honda bring this type of design into future electric vehicles with multiple shows built across the dashboard, and an additional wooden trim right beneath it. It is ultra-sophisticated, yet not extravagantly so.

Honda has yet to make any announcements about a potential substitution, however the Japanese automaker has hinted at a new concept debut at CES in the upcoming month.

The year 2024 will mark the arrival of Honda’s inaugural completely electric car for the US sector, the Prologue. The vehicle does not match any of the gasoline-powered models in terms of its platform but this has been compensated by General Motors’ Ultium architecture that backings the similarly styled Chevy Blazer EV. Moreover, While GM and Honda had an agreement to jointly construct budget EVs for Acura, this contract ended before anything concrete could arise resulting in Honda making the Europe-exclusive e:Ny1 on its own.

Honda has yet to announce the pricing of the Prologue, but it is assumed to start at a high $40,000. It could be a while before Honda has an EV that is truly “affordable” for the American market.