While electric vehicles have made huge advancements in range and charging capabilities over the past decade, they certainly aren’t done evolving. Price is the next frontier, and it looks to be the big thing automakers are focusing on through 2030. The latest sign of this is that Honda seems to at least be considering a locally produced, sub-$30,000 electric vehicle for America. As the Nikkei reports:
Honda will introduce a new electric vehicle in North America priced below $30,000 by as early as 2026, as the Japanese automaker aims to attract customers after purchase incentives are removed under the current U.S. administration of President Donald Trump.
Indeed, the maximum $7,500 tax credit on North American-built EVs with batteries sourced from a select list of countries, or leased EVs, has been a great driver of electric vehicle sales, since it can reduce the effective price of many mass-market U.S.-spec EVs dramatically. Even though an EV charged at home should offer low total cost of ownership than a combustion-powered car, buyers are still ultimately limited by borrowing power, so anything that helps to pursue the mission of price parity should make it easier for drivers to get into EVs.
Regardless of whether or not federal electric vehicle tax credits stick around in the medium term, EVs still need to get cheaper in America. In that vein, Chevrolet’s announced that a new Bolt is coming in 2026, VinFast has been floating the idea of bringing the tiny VF3 to America, and Honda would do well to set its sights on the underserved entry level corner of the market. The 0 Series EV prototypes pictured in this article should compete with established mid-priced EVs, but an affordable third model would go a long way to move metal.
So, where do things officially lie on Honda’s sub $30,000 EV? Well, as Reuters reports, “A Honda spokesperson said that while the automaker aims to release an EV priced below $30,000 as an entry-level model as part of the series, the company has not made any decision yet on whether to release that model in North America.” While this isn’t a yes, the fact that a sub-$30,000 EV is in the cards holds promise. This isn’t a case of pure speculation on possible future product, the vehicle’s being planned so it’s just a matter of whether it makes it to America.
These days, a lot of vehicles are engineered for global standards, as more sales across more markets amortizes research and development costs over more cars. Given how electric vehicles don’t produce tailpipe emissions, so long as equipment and safety regulations are met, U.S. homologation is less arduous than it would be for a combustion-powered car, albeit still an undertaking. If Honda’s $30,000 EV falls under this umbrella, U.S. sales might be feasible.
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens with Honda’s decision on bringing a sub-$30k EV to America. If the numbers work, not just for profitability but to produce a vehicle with range and charging specs Americans feel comfortable with, it would make a lot of sense to come in and undercut pretty much everyone. Honda built its automotive name in America with reasonably priced small cars that offered great economy and build quality, and I reckon we all want to see the firm do it again in the electric age.
(Photo credits: Honda)
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The problem with cheap EVs (for now, at least) is that they need to sell to buyers who are replacing their only car to hit numbers that would make those EVs a true unqualified success.
A one car household seems like they would be the least open to giving up the range, convenience and familiarity of a gas powered car. In most of this country, their car is a need. There’s also a good chance they’re renters and don’t have the benefit of being able to charge at home overnight. On top of that, they count among the people who need their jobs the most, and that leads to being the most afraid of having an issue that makes them late for (or completely miss) work. To most working class Americans, this is one big formula for range anxiety and lost time with a fairly limited upside.
To be more specific about this car, the Honda Prologue is roughly CR-V sized and starts at $47,000. It stands to reason that this new offering would be something BR-Z sized and potentially smaller with the range and driving dynamics of what we have already seen from cheaper EVs. On top of that, the options to equip it like other $30,000 cars (or possibly just get enough range to feel ok about switching to an EV) are likely to make it an almost $40,000 car.
TL;DR Sounds like a flop unless they shock us all with the range.
Looks like a Bertone styling exercise from 1968, pulled from vague memory with a complete loss of proportions.
They managed to make it too expensive, ugly, oh and don’t worry about the Chinese………………….yet.
Merge with Nissan, rebadge the Ariya, there’s your sub $30k EV.
Got my Ariya with $15k off making it about $24k, been a great commuter.
Blind spots the size of Texas. And that butt. It’s so…. square.
I would assume that blind spots can be mitigated with cameras. The butt, however…
I can appreciate the styling right until it gets to the C-pillar.
Another EV with bait and switch pricing. Yawn.
This would be more exciting to me if the new EVs styling wasn’t sitting so poorly with me…be real funny if the conventional styled but GM built Prologue is more successful than Hondas first actual US ev.
The Honda e is the one I want. I don’t need gobs of power and a huge arse full of seats. A nippy runabout with sufficient range for a middling weekend – about 200 miles – would be an instant hit.
If I didn’t have carpool duties taking my kid to school, I’d be in the same boat, but one of the kids already whines that my Civic is too small because he’s used to the minivan his family gets around in (he has 3 siblings, we’re one and done).
Take a hard look at at the Nissan Ariya. They are giving them away, got $15k off mine, puts it at $24k. It’s been a great commuter.
Unless it’s an updated version of the adorable Honda E with more range, I’m not interested. Especially if it’s gonna look like this 0 thing.
The Renault 5 is right there. Sitting in France, waiting for Honda to take over Nissan and bring it to the US.
It’s a crime that were not allowed to buy one.
Lots of companies are aiming at cheaper EVs. Whether they will hit the mark is another matter. And based on the apparently poor eyesight of whoever designed the rear end of this monstrosity, I don’t give them very good odds. 😉
sub-30k in 2025 dollars or sub-30k at release time? That will be quite the feat either way honestly.
Imagine a 200hp CRX-e, that’s what it should be. Just enough battery for 200mi, and as aero effecient as possible. Hell it can be a 2 seat coupe, as long as it hits the sub 30k price tag.
I wonder did everyone that designs EV’s learn from pinewood derbies? I feel like more and more they are the same design.
Take Honda Fit chassis, add newly aquired eNV200 drivetrain (Leaf drivetrain with cooling fan for battery), add NACS, Profit.
Better than a technophilic GM product with a Honda badge slapped on it.
Did I miss where the article indicates the photos used are for the 0 Series SUV? Fair to assume the cheaper vehicle would use that design language but I assumed the 0 SUV would be way over $30k.
Yes, you did.
The Honda Civic is barely below $30k.
How’s this going to be achieved in an EV?
The same way they did it with the Insight to fight the Prius: A boatload of crappy materials and general decontenting.
Basically a battery pack, a milk crate, and a PS4 controller. You know, just like how you build a submbersible.
To which iteration of the Insight are you referring, I assume the middle, more Prius-shaped model? The last one was pretty much a hybrid Civic with a not-really-CVT, right?
The new Renault 5 EV would be under $30k, as are other Euro options. Just means it’s a much smaller and de-contented vehicle than we usually get.
I’ll wait to see how this plays with that strategy.
Honda wasn’t able to maintain the Honda Fit/Jazz in America. And the 9th gen Civic’s de-content experiment was so deeply unfavourably received that it received an emergency update for it’s second year on the market.
Technology has advanced a lot since the emergency 9th-gen refresh. Tesla has also changed the game in terms of getting people to believe that a completely gutted interior that looks nice and has well-placed screens is a luxury experience. I truly believe Honda could make a sub-$30k EV work, but they’d need to sell in considerable volume. If the economy goes down the toilet in the next 4 years, a sub-$30k car from a trusted manufacturer that costs $0 in gas and requires almost no maintenance would be an appealing prospect for a lot of people.
I wish we got the Honda E in the US. I gawked at one in Scotland and they are so damn cute.
The Honda E strikes me as the most “so close, but yet so far” transition between concept and production vehicle in recent memory. The transition from 2 door (concept) to 4 door (production) hatchback screwed up the side profile, they neutered the wheel arches and tire diameter, and (perhaps most egregiously) changed the car’s ‘face’ from happy and alert to depressed and introverted. That’s not even getting into how they failed to deliver on the interior features. Then they tried to charge an inflated ‘ride the hype’ price for their enshittificated car. I’m surprised they got even close to 50% of their projected sales volumes.
This thing make the Honda Crosstour look pretty
IDK, I like it. Functional and with just enough retro and futuristic cues to be interesting but not tiring
It looks 1970’s futuristic. Except it won’t amputate legs when it hits a pedestrian.
Removing the EV credit is just the beginning. Trump’s next move will be ripping out EV charging stations
Well, to be fair most of the credits were already supposed to go away, they just got a temporary last-minute bump under the inflation reduction legislation. Removing them (despite the political baggage) is really just returning things to normal.
Now if Orangey would just get rid of the massive standard deduction so charities could get the boost they deserve…
Would his $2B sugar daddy Lone Skum go along with that? I have to wonder.
Take your smiley face for “Lone Skum”. 🙂
I cannot claim ownership, I just stole it.
The first genuinely cool EV design I’ve seen since Rivian first unveiled their trucks.
Eye of the beholder and all that.
Seems like even more manufacturers are creating entirely new design languages around EVs (or one completely different design for every single car, KIUNDAI!). I don’t really get it, but I think it’s an effort to create parallel brands and prepare for whatever future marketing requires.
You didn’t like the Polestar 1? That is probably my favorite, from a design perspective.
To be fair, the Polestar 1 came out a few years before the R1T so your statement could still stand.
Yeah, Polestar was solid! I guess the fact that I’ve seen one Polestar in my life (not the 1), and mentally I just lumped the early models in as Volvo offshoots.