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this post was submitted on 15 Mar 2026
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Electric Vehicles
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Honda always markets themselves as being innovative, but they’re a huge disappointment in this regard.
Honda has never been innovative with cars. They just make boring cars designed by committees.
They haven’t innovated in years (decades?). When was the last time they released a good car outside their core competency? I feel like after the new NSX failed they really stopped taking any risks.
The original two door insight was pretty innovative. That’s the last car they put any real design effort into. 50 to 70 mpg.
Back in the 80s/90s they shipped a whole suite of great cars built on the civic platform. Wish they would bring those back. Especially the Del Sol. A small EV civic line up would make a great comeback car.
The 99 Insight was only two seats and most dealers wouldnt even sell you one, it was a compliance car.
An electric Del Sol would so amazing I bet the oil and gas industry is preventing it.
Honda lost interest with affordable cars.
Does Acura count? TLX type S felt like a risk, albeit not a huge one
What was the risk? It’s an up-badged Accord V6. Sedans that are sportier than Toyota is a core competency.
Accord never had a turbo V6 with AWD, and it's a performance luxury sedan in the age where the market looked like it was gonna disappear. We know now that Dodge are bringing the V8s back and Cadillac is gonna keep the blackwings going, but that's a different price bracket so less of a surprise there
edit: also stretching the definition of up-badging there, entirely new chassis, interior and drivetrain isn't an upbadge
If it is a risk, it’s not a very good risk then? Like the Prelude is a risk and it just seems like a bad decision.
What do they gain by making a new car that sits in the luxury midsize sedan segment? Is it really selling better than upgrading the Accord would have?
Also it seems Acura has been mismanaged for years, and investing their limited resources on a sedan seems kind of silly.
That's... what I said? Not a huge risk.
I'm talking about the Type S specifically. A car in a (mostly) dying segment when it comes to american manufacturers. One that might not sell in huge numbers but if received well would become an instant future classic, as the Blackwings but cheaper and more honda-like.
Normal TLX is as safe as the previous generation, and it's still not an Accord. You're comparing Toyota to a Lexus.
Why? They already make SUVs that sell well, might as well keep the sedans alive for their customer base, who want something Honda-sporty but more comfortable and presentable. It's not like they have to make an entirely new platform, the new Integra is basically a Civic underneath down to the engine
I meant the risk has a poor chance of return.
What does Honda have to gain for this? Car manufacturers don’t get huge benefit for used car sales. If they cared about that, they’d offer a manual version.
The Lexus up badging strategy works though. Lexus is far more successful than Acura.
Except that’s not true anymore. The MDX hasn’t been updated and the RDX is basically cancelled and it’s reflected in sales numbers. That’s where they should’ve invested instead of into a low volume sedan.
Making a hot version of a car drives sales of regular versions, idk how else to put it. You build something cool and desirable but slightly unreachable and people will want to have the next best thing. Eg Maserati MC20, Giulia QV, AMGs and M cars of all sorts
edit: also you're misunderstanding what "up badging" means, it refers to people putting sti stickers on their WRXs and other trim fuckery like that, not coming up with entirely new models on new platforms that share some components with your lower tier brands
TIL about up badging.
I get the point of making a hot version. The Civic Type R has been pretty successful. But again, it’s a dying segment. They’d be better off with a more successful SUV.
As a company sure, I dread to see the day hatchbacks and sedans die in favor of huge ugly SUVs though.
Like the only hot SUV that doesn't piss me off is ford puma st, because it's not much bigger than what it's based on, and things like Countryman JCW, X2, GLA AMG, smaller stuff basically
edit: thankfully we still get more ILXs and TLXs imported than their SUVs, I think they're neat
Oh what market are you in? I don’t think they call it Ford Puma in the US. Is that a Ford Escape?
There are plenty of hatchback crossovers that are barely SUVs: Crosstrek, Venue, Ioniq 5.
Europe, Puma is their Fiesta-based SUV, and the ST is using the exact same engine as the FiST. Ford Escape is one size up I think
At this point a no frills, low cost EV or even ICE vehicle would be innovative but they'd rather do a shitty job copycatting other models.
In 1999, Honda released the Insight, the first hybrid available in North America, and their innovations have been going downhill ever since.
Toyota sold the Prius in 1997. The Insight was a terrible car, and dealers even refused to sell them.