{"id":33940,"date":"2025-01-09T13:54:18","date_gmt":"2025-01-09T17:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=33940"},"modified":"2025-01-09T13:54:18","modified_gmt":"2025-01-09T17:54:18","slug":"payne-walking-around-hondas-radical-0-series-with-the-designer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/payne-walking-around-hondas-radical-0-series-with-the-designer","title":{"rendered":"Payne: Walking around Honda’s radical 0 Series with the designer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Las Vegas<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 New cars used to be the meat and potatoes of January events like the Detroit Auto Show and Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas. But, in the age of social media, manufacturers have increasingly scheduled singular dates to pull the wraps off cars in order to guarantee maximum media attention.<\/p>\n

Once the home of over 70 new car reveals, the Detroit Auto Show will have none this year. And there was only one by a mainstream automaker this week at the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show.<\/p>\n

But what a reveal it was.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Honda Executive Chief Designer Daisuke Tsutamori with Honda 0 Series Saloon at 2025 CES.<\/em><\/div>\n
Henry Payne, The Detroit News<\/em><\/div>\n

Honda unveiled its highly-anticipated 0 Series models before an overflow audience, a peek into the brand\u2019s all-electric future that it calls its Second Founding. 0 Series (0 as in zero tailpipe emissions and Ground Zero reboot of company design) is a dramatic departure from anything the mainstream brand has made before.<\/p>\n

In the great tradition of production prototypes, the Saloon and SUV models are meant to turn your head and make you reconsider the brand. These are designs out of a sci-fi movie, not the tradition of a modest Accord or Civic. Heck, the flagship Saloon 0 Series looks like Lamborghini made a station wagon.<\/p>\n

And the Ohio-made models promise to carry premium prices, unlike the Accord and Civics that made Honda a household U.S. name. \u201cEVs are in an expensive price range,\u201d said Katsushi Inoue, Honda’s chief of electrification business development. He’s aware of the challenge to the automaker\u2019s affordable brand. \u201cIt will take some time, but we are looking to expand the range with seven models by 2030.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n
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A crowd watches the introduction of Honda’s first 0 Series prototypes at the 2025 Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas. Henry Payne, The Detroit News<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I corralled Honda Chief Designer Daisuke Tsutamori, who had flown in from his Tokyo design studio to unveil his baby, for a walkaround of the unique features of the Saloon and SUV prototypes.<\/p>\n

Saloon Prototype<\/h2>\n

Honda is a brand with great pride in its history and I asked Tsutamori through a translator if there was a precedent for the exotic-looking Lambo \u2014 er, Honda. A pleasant man with a quick smile, Tsutamori acknowledged that the Saloon was a new design for a new Honda era.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the idea of starting from zero for the 0 Series,\u201d he began.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe proportions are about how much surprise we could put into a new sedan,\u201d he continued, sweeping his arm across the vehicle’s dustbuster nose that sniffed the ground. \u201cIt\u2019s low, thin and had the biggest panoramic roof ever made for a Honda and a strong D-pillar too.\u201d<\/p>\n

As in, you can\u2019t see out the back of this thing. Not only is the D-pillar wider than Iowa, there is no rear window. Which means the driver must use a camera mirror to see out the back \u2014 a technology pioneered by Cadillac and prized by the brand\u2019s IMSA race drivers so they get unobstructed views out the back of race cars in traffic.<\/p>\n

Designers like to organize groundbreaking cars around a theme, and Tsutamori said the 0 Series\u2019 guiding principles are \u201cthin, light and wise.\u201d Thin is a reference to the unique, lightweight skateboard battery platform that is the bones of all 0 Series models. Light, Tsutamori pointed out, is a recurring theme, whether in the repeating red LED tubes that make up the rear taillight \u2014 or the interior lights that change with the mood of the driver. Purple indicates the EV is ready for aggression \u2014 sky blue is more passive for when the driver wants to take a break from the road.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n
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The Honda 0 Series Saloon features a yoke steering wheel that controls drive-by-wire, variable electric steering, allowing for slight inputs from the driver.<\/em><\/div>\n
Henry Payne, The Detroit News<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The colors are integrated with Honda\u2019s new Asimo operating system, which displays lovely graphics (an ocean floor, for example) across the car\u2019s huge pillar-to-pillar dash screen.<\/p>\n

Why is the yoke steering wheel upside down? I asked.<\/p>\n

Tsutamori motioned me to slip into the car and the reason becomes apparent. The wheel was upside down to make entry easier for my knee. It spun upright when it sensed that I was seated.<\/p>\n

Like the exterior, the interior is meant to push boundaries. The yoke steering wheel controls drive-by-wire, variable electric steering \u2014 meaning drivers won\u2019t require a 540-degree, lock-to-lock rotation to maneuver like conventional wheels (even Tesla\u2019s Model S yoke). Instead, it only requires 140 degrees of lock-to-lock rotation. No arm-crossing, just small inputs. Slick.<\/p>\n

Radical it may be, but the Saloon is less than two years from production, meaning it is close to its final form. To this end, the front end has changed significantly from the concept Saloon that Honda introduced at last year\u2019s CES. Headlights are lower to the road, and the snout is interrupted by a radar brick for semi-autonomous, Level 3 hands-off driving.<\/p>\n

The designer pointed out the lidar inserted in the camera unit at the top of the windshield \u2014 subtle as well as high-tech.<\/p>\n

SUV prototype<\/h2>\n

The 0 Series SUV is more modest next to its Lambo-like mate \u2014 but still pushes the boundaries of the SUV form.<\/p>\n

The D-pillar is even more massive. Tsutamori revealed why: inside, the pillars contain huge storage boxes to complement the hatchback\u2019s cargo space. He said the boxes might contain charge plugs in the final production model.<\/p>\n

The rear\u2019s square, light-rimmed design echoes that of the Saloon (as well as the sci-fi \u201cspinner\u201d mobile that Ryan Gosling\u2019s character drove in \u201cBlade Runner 2049\u201d). But it has a substantial glass opening that won\u2019t require a camera mirror, said the designer, in keeping with the SUV\u2019s more affordable price point compared to the Saloon.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n
\n
The Honda 0 Series SUV offers side closets in the cargo hatch.<\/em><\/div>\n
Henry Payne, The Detroit News<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

This is a compact SUV with a similar footprint to the gas-powered CR-V,\u00a0 Honda\u2019s best-selling model at over 400,000 units a year in the U.S.<\/p>\n

The interior is as radical looking as the Saloon (including the yoke wheel), but there is a familiar face. Tsutamori called it \u201cscreen-face\u201d and it is unmistakably similar to the cute, electric Honda e compact that the brand sold in Asia and Europe until 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is human-centric design,\u201d said the designer of the anthropomorphic features that resemble eyes and a nose. \u201cIt also keeps it simple to accommodate the sensors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Saloon, the SUV is bristling with lidar, cameras and radar for hands-free autonomy. A new Honda logo anchors the screen face. I asked if the SUV will have a front trunk (frunk) since there is no gas engine up front.<\/p>\n

The designer smiled again, reminding me that there is still a year before production begins on the ute.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to tell you everything just yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Las Vegas\u00a0\u2014 New cars used to be the meat and potatoes of January events like the Detroit Auto Show and Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas. But, in the age of social media, manufacturers have increasingly scheduled singular dates to pull the wraps off cars in order to guarantee maximum media attention. Once the home of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33940"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33940"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33941,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33940\/revisions\/33941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}