Honda Urban EV Concept Is the City Car of Tomorrow

One of the coolest things at this year’s IAA is to be found at Honda’s booth. It’s the tiny little Honda Urban EV Concept which is a futuristic electric city car with a retro-inspired, distinctly Japanese styling, and it shows where the brand is headed both in terms of design and technology. 

Honda Urban EV is small, short, and hunkered down, and it has round headlights and flared wheel arches. It kind of looks like a cute puppy, which we think is intentional. Its compact proportions mean it has a total vehicle length 100mm shorter than the Jazz supermini, which is an achievement in and of itself. The concept has two suicide doors, and although they look too fancy for a production model, for a car of this size they could prove more practical than conventional doors as they offer a wide space to get in and out of the car.

Another highlight of Honda Urban EV Concept is the blue Honda emblem, a signature feature all future electric models will sport. What production models won’t be getting is the screen between the headlights where interactive multilingual messages can be displayed between the headlights, including greetings, advice for other drivers on the road, or charging status updates. That’s a bit of a gimmick, you have to admit.

The interior is equally fascinating, what with the blend of modern and traditional, mostly Japanese, features. You get a huge wrap-around screen that runs behind the console and extends into the doors, and it’s accented with wood. Honda has not revealed the specs of the electric system that would power such a thing.