Honda will bring its new Prelude sports coupé to the UK and target younger customers with its elegant, swooping looks, acute attention to dynamics and an interior that has been designed around the driver’s needs.
Set to be imported from the “mid-2020s”, the Civic-based two-door hybrid will be Honda’s sixth UK model line and the first Prelude sold here since the fifth-generation car was withdrawn from sale in 2001.
It will also be the only front-driven coupé on sale in the UK, after cars such as the Volkswagen Scirocco, Hyundai Veloster and Vauxhall Astra GTC were retired several years ago and the Audi TT is now out of production.
According to the firm’s CEO, Toshihiro Mibe, the new Prelude is intended to “embody Honda’s unalterable sports mindset” with a driver-focused chassis and engine set-up. The firm suggests it will serve as a halo product for its line-up of electrified models – currently mostly consisting of SUVs – and a showcase for its hybrid powertrain technology.
Tomoyuki Yamagami, project lead for the Prelude, told Autocar: “The trend in the movement of electric and hybrid vehicles is more in the direction of SUVs. We believe the practicality needs of the customer are important. However, we as Honda have always sought the joy of driving. And we believe personal mobility cannot be without the joy of operating, the joy of driving itself. That’s our core DNA.
“So particularly now that everybody is seeking efficient power units, it is time for Honda to show its ability to combine high efficiency with something that is fun to drive with dynamic cars – even though we are talking about low-carbon trends in the world.”
Honda has been tight-lipped about the Prelude’s precise mechanical make-up since revealing the concept last year, but it is understood to use a variation of the Civic’s e:HEV petrol-hybrid system, which combines a 2.0-litre petrol engine with a pair of electric motors. In the five-door car, it’s good for 181bhp and an official 56.5mpg.
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I want to like this but the side profile has an odd set of proportions: the slope of the roof begins immediately after the windscreen header, giving the impression that there's insufficient headroom for those in the front (unless they lean forward) while the rear wheels trail behind an as-yet unseen pointless back seat. Somehow the three TTS managed to overcome their excess wheelbase in ways this can't. It has some handsome angles but from the side I'm getting Firenza vibes!
On the positive side it's good that Honda UK have decided to sell the Prelude here after the rather uninteresting e and e:Ny 1 EV's, the e has already gone and the e:Ny 1 entry price starts north of £40k which is excessive for a Chinese built car. One possible reason for the dramatic slide in the sales of Honda in the past decade in how expensive their cars are compared to other equivalents in the same market sector so it'll be interesting to see how they price the Prelude when it comes here and how many takers there will be for it
Congratulations Honda, looks like you have bought the tooling for a 2010 Hyundai Coupe, changed the front facia and installed an electric motor. Should we all be cheering an own goal ??
Come on guys,think a bit more left field than a 14 year old design - you could have designed something really radical - and that might justify the price you are going to want to charge.