COMMENT
HONDA HELD ITS EV NERVE. NOW IT’S READY TO JUMP
When the Honda E concept was revealed in 2019, there was real excitement and anticipation for this excellent-looking thing. It felt entirely original yet retro and demonstrated a promising future for the Japanese manufacturer in the EV era.
The production version didn’t stray too far from the handsome concept, but the sub-100-mile range (yes, I know the argument why the range was deemed enough for the car’s purpose) and high price were key factors that limited it. And here we are, five years later, with the model already dropped due to poor sales. Oh, what could have been… Honda’s survival amid the most dramatic reinvention of the car industry in its entire history is a fascinating one. As James Attwood tells us on p52, Honda might appear to be behind the curve, but the car maker insists that’s not the case and says it has the technology and now feels the world is ready for it. Others have rushed to electrification for legislative reasons rather than due to public demand, while Honda has quietly observed from the back benches without pushing through entire electric line-ups (as have some of its domestic rivals). Does this mean Honda will ultimately outsmart its rivals, or is it naive of the firm not to have been on the front foot sooner? Time will tell, but Honda has everything to play for.
Rachel Burgess, magazine editor rachel.burgess@haymarket.com
Meanwhile, online…
autocar.co.uk
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6 FERRARI UNLEASHES DECADE-DEFINING F80
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Issue 6642 | Volume 322 | No 7
NEWSFerrari F80: wild new-era hypercar 6 Extreme Porsche 911 GT3 updated 10 No-holds-barred £276k Alpine A110 12 Dacia poised to expand line-up 14 Morgan Plus Six run-out special 16 Tesla’s ‘Robotaxi’ finally revealed 18 FIRST DRIVES Audi S5 Avant, A5 saloon 24 Porsche Panamera GTS, Turbo S 28 Mercedes-AMG GT 63 Pro 30 Mercedes-AMG CLE 53 Cabriolet 31 Omoda E5 32 Kia EV6 GT-Line S AWD 33 Lexus RZ 300e 33 ROAD TESTS Ford Explorer Extended Range RWD 34 Volkswagen Golf 1.5 TSI eHybrid 40 FEATURESPeugeot 508 PSE meets 505 GTi 46 World’s toughest off-road buses 50 Honda’s CEO on its bold EV future 52 LONG-TERMERSDaciaSandero Stepway 58 Skoda Kamiq 61 COLUMNSJesseCrosse 15 Mark Tisshaw 17 Steve Cropley 19 Matt Prior 20 Damien Smith 21 Testing, testing 45 Why I love… 74 EVERY WEEK Your Views 22 How to subscribe 56 Lost in the archive 66 Road test results 67 USED CARS Jaguar E-Pace buying guide 62 My car & I 64 Caught in the classifieds 65
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34 FORD’S ELECTRIC EXPLORER: ROAD TEST
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