Honda is on the offensive

For Norway, of course, the all-new e:Ny1 is the most interesting. If they can get customers to remember the name after that.

Does anyone easily remember the name of the Toyota electric battery? bZ4X. Everyone still remembers the HiAce, even though the car has not been on the market for the past 10 years. Where do they get things like Littlebigstor @ZettfourtallStoreks?

or something like e: New1.

anyone?

When Honda’s director of Norway and Denmark, Mikael Larsen, used that name when telling us last winter about the new cars coming in 2023, I thought it was a strange codename.

But no – it’s dangerous. It’s probably some kind of shorthand for anyone – in which case it’s just as stupid, who wants to be anyone?

But you might as well turn to it, because this car will show up — Honda hopes. The current plan for Norway is 800 cars in the first six months, with deliveries from October.

Norway is at the top of the waiting list

The books are already opened, and Mikael Larsen says they’re working hard to get the car to Norwegian dealers before it’s released in Europe, where the Norwegian electric car market is still very interesting.

– We expect customers in Norway to be able to see, ride and test drive the car earlier than customers in the rest of Europe can, he says.

The car we are talking about is a four-door compact SUV – smaller than the Tesla Y, by the way, with a wheelbase of 261 cm and external dimensions of 439 x 179 x 156 cm. There will probably be cars like the Niro, EQA and XC40 that will meet this car. Plus an increasing amount of B-segment SUVs from China.

The Honda looks good, really very good—because the sleek rear roofline means you lose part of the potential door opening that you could easily bang the back of your head on the C-pillar before learning to lean forward when entering. And since we’re in the back there – the boot’s 350 liters would probably be adequate before the seats are folded (60/40), but why not open a hatch for skis or something else long?

Design director is missing

Although the show took place in the design studio of Honda’s large R&D department outside Frankfurt, it would have been impossible to speak to Paolo Cocagna, design director there since 2006, to hear what he’s been working on more than once here.

In fact, I couldn’t even get confirmation that this car was designed in Europe – so I’ll have to wait until the next time I see him.

On the other hand, it was Tom Gardner, senior vice-president of Honda Motor Europe, who led the way when he first reminded me—very aptly, by the way, when I was grumbling about low sales figures in Norway and Europe—that I should’ve forgotten they sold millions of bikes Firearms and other energy products.

QCD

Second, talk convincingly about the company’s work with the QCD factor – quality, cost and delivery – in other words, what the customer expects for the price they pay.

– That’s why we work to find the right balance between all of these elements and spend a lot of time figuring out what people expect and don’t expect, not least how they respond to a number of situations that arise while owning a car.

The issue was actually charging for the time. Its 78 kW top charging speed is miles more than the Y170 offers, or 350 other competitors are telling about.

But Jorgen Pluym is also up there—he’s at the helm of part of Honda’s energy effort.

– Personally, I call fast charging “emergency charging,” he said.

Nobody can be satisfied with such a solution. It costs a lot, the battery doesn’t like it and you create a peak in the electricity supply.

Smart power management

He and his colleagues said Honda has come a long way with energy management systems where charging can be done as cheaply as possible, and in the long run it controls the entire power grid and – of course – acts two ways so it can sell battery power back to the grid when prices are lower. High.

– In the long run, say Pluym and his people – a motorist would be able to cut NOK 4-5,000 off their annual car electricity bill with such a system in operation.

In both England and Switzerland they operate such systems in practice now.

– Why not in Norway? I asked on behalf of the Electric Vehicle Association.

Because we lack the emerging growth of the necessary system vendors and other partners, was one of the answers.

(status continues)

Screen control

Back to the car, which of course we haven’t had a chance to drive yet.

The interior space was satisfactory – not overwhelming, but very tolerable. I’ll wait to talk about the perceived quality of work and materials until I meet a serial-produced copy (then I’ll also expect USB-C sockets around the bolt, not like now – a C in the back and an A in the front, as my detail-focused colleague from Vi Menn managed from discovering it.

What I was able to see for myself was that they hung a large screen in a vertical version in the middle of the dashboard which contained a number of operating functions. In fact, a number of the excellent physical switches found on the HR-V — which anyone would really rely on — have now been removed.

They will certainly be missed by those who remember how driver-friendly Honda cars were earlier.

Front-wheel drive

More Necessary Specifications: The F architecture, which forms the basis of it all, is front-wheel drive and is designed to deliver the “unparalleled dynamic capabilities and comfort that owners expect from a refined electric Honda”!

Engine 200 hp and 310 Nm. 0-100 in about 8 seconds. The 68.8 kWh battery delivers just over 400 km. Curb weight of less than 1,700 kg seemed too good to be true.

f hitch?

As usual, I forgot to ask about those very important details.

However, I know the price. Just under NOK 400,000 for the scratched copy. There is one for another NOK 40,000. Certainly with a proper QCD factor as well.

More news

But before we close the door:

Three new models reported:

Well anyone, they showed a new ZR-V (new? In the US, it’s been sold as the HR-V for a while), which is a pure hybrid and therefore of no interest to Norway. In other, slightly more advanced markets, it will replace the HR-V and I see it as likely to meet the Kodiaq and Qashqai directly.

The third piece of news may be of interest to Norway. After all, some plug-in hybrids are still being sold here at home.

Then we talk about the CR-V, in the sixth generation in fact, with a wheelbase 4 cm longer than before and a little more centimeters in all directions. 2-liter engine and enough batteries for electric driving of just over 80 kilometers.

When we know more about price, delivery, and sales goals, we’ll likely come back to it.

In summary:

Again, I’m back from Honda’s European headquarters in Offenbach, and I’m in love with what they do, the hands-on approach to everything they work on (and have worked on it since I started visiting them there in the 90’s) and the 360-degree view they have. Everything related to the ecosystem around the car.

And again, I’m shaking my head how they’ve managed to fail to translate all of these qualities into something that translates into sales statistics and can give dealers a reason to smile (and invest) again.