Honda Motor Company, purveyors of cars that look more like alien spacecraft than something designed for human use, has been teasing us with their Honda E Prototype for a few years now….and boy is it a departure from their normal design language.
And thank Sweet Baby Jesus for that…
You see, for years Honda has been making cars that have impressively pragmatic spec sheets, but to my eye, look like insect Transformers. Odd angles, goofy proportions and design cues that seem to be stuck on just because, all conspire to produce a look that is more at home in a galaxy far far away than in a driveway in Middle America.
The Honda E Prototype (read: concept) is remarkable as it’s the polar opposite, and as such looks fantastic. It’s as if Honda said “You know what, this thing is gonna be important. Lets hire someone from VW to pen it.”. If you removed the Honda badge from the front grille I’d guess that it was either a VW or Renault product. And since VW has all but omitted design character from its model lineup, the market wide open for Honda.
Just look below…
One is a spastic mess of jumbled angles and lines…the other is the attractive Honda E. Clean. Confident. Classic.
So, a few things:
- Could the Honda E mark a move to a new, cleaner design language for Honda?
- Imagine cars with Honda’s impressive specs but that are also attractive. The mind reels…
- Where was this Honda designer when they were penning their insect spacecraft all these years?!
- Let’s just hope they were a new hire.
- Let’s also hope they don’t futz with the Honda E’s design too much on its way to production.
- The latest iteration is to be shown at the Geneva Motor Show soon so fingers crossed.
In short, Honda should have a hit on its hands if it can bring the Honda E to production with minimal design alterations and a “good-enough” spec sheet….and that last part is crucial as we all remember the CR-Z
Images: Honda
