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Honda will reintroduce an electric hatchback two years after it axed the Honda E, but the new model will be even smaller and could offer a hot-hatch variant.
Electric Cars
A Honda hatchback with electric power is returning, two years after it axed the Honda E electric car amid slow sales just four years into its life.
However, the new electric hatchback – previewed by a 'Super EV' hot-hatch concept set to debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed next month – will be unrelated to the Honda E, which was introduced in 2020 but axed by the end of 2023.
Instead, the new model will rival one-size-smaller 'micro car' models such as the Fiat 500e, Hyundai Inster, forthcoming Renault Twingo E-Tech, and Dacia Spring when it goes on sale in Europe in 2026, before a planned global launch.
The 'Super EV' hot-hatch concept will hint at "how an A-segment model might offer fresh, 'fun-to-drive' electric performance alongside trademark Honda usability," the brand said in a media release.
It will be driven around the hillclimb track along with the upcoming Prelude hybrid coupe, the Civic Type R Ultimate Edition – a send-off for the current Type R in Europe – earlier generations of the Civic Type R, and a range of Honda motorcycles.
The Honda 0 SUV concept will also be shown at the company's booth at Goodwood following its global debut at the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January, previewing a production model due to be built in the US from next year.
The 2025 Goodwood Festival of Speed is scheduled to take place in West Sussex, United Kingdom between Thursday, July 10, 2025 and Sunday, July 13, 2025.
While the Honda E electric car was discontinued in Europe and Japan at the end of 2023, the brand has since introduced the HR-V-related e:Ny1 electric small SUV, which recently went on sale in New Zealand as the E:N1.
Honda does not currently offer an electric vehicle in Australia.
In 2023, a Honda Europe executive claimed "there won't be more cars the size of the Honda E" in the current "SUV driven" market, but the brand has now confirmed the smaller A-segment electric hatchback.
"There won’t be more cars the size of the Honda E. I can say that confidently," Honda cars UK boss Rebecca Adamson told Autocar in 2023.
"The market demand in the UK is the SUV sector, so that’s why the focus is there. It’s a market-led product line-up. As long as that’s where the market is, we will continue to be SUV driven."
More details on the Honda Super EV hot-hatch concept, and the production model it previews, will be confirmed next month.
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Jordan is a motoring journalist based in Melbourne with a lifelong passion for cars. He has been surrounded by classic Fords and Holdens, brand-new cars, and everything in between from birth, with his parents’ owning an automotive workshop in regional Victoria. Jordan started writing about cars in 2021, and joined the Drive team in 2024.
