CARMEL, Calif. — Acura showed off a curvaceous, sporty Performance EV Concept here, and as is often the case when Honda Motor Co. unveils a concept car, there’s a production version right behind it. In this case, it’s due by the end of next year.
But Honda executives told reporters they haven’t yet decided what to call the new electric vehicle — or whether it will have a new, unique name or come to market as a version of an existing brand.
It’s not just a question for this Monterey Car Week intro, it’s really a question that involves all electric vehicles from Japan’s second-largest automaker.
So far, Honda has the Prologue, which brings back an old name in an appropriate use: Based on General Motors engineering, it’s basically what the brand offers consumers before it tells its own EV story.
And the company’s Acura brand has GM’s ZDX electric crossover, which also brings back an old name and matches Acura’s naming style for the RDX and MDX crossovers.
But is this the right approach for models based on Honda’s “thin, light and wide” 0 Series platform?
“We need to think about it,” said Kazuhiro Takizawa, CEO of American Honda Motor Co. “We still have time, so it’s not settled yet.”
But with production scheduled to begin in about a year, time is running out.
How to name electric vehicles is a question that is not unique to Honda and Acura.
Consider Volkswagen. It has branded its EVs with ID names—mostly ID with a number, like the Chattanooga-made ID4 crossover, but also the ID Buzz that evokes the old Microbus with a play on words about electricity. But what about the brand’s established big names? In an all-electric future, will there be no Golf, no Passat?
In the U.S. market, the pressure on a brand like Honda is even more intense. The company is “still watching” German brands and trying to learn from their experience, said Executive Vice President Shinji Aoyama.
“I understand that the name of the vehicle is very important,” he said. “And many customers are basically comfortable” with existing Honda vehicle names, “like Civic, Accord, CR-Vs. But we’re also wondering what to do.”
I’m no marketing expert, but the value of these names, as well as popular Acura models like the MDX and NSX, is nothing to scoff at. Adding the names to “Type E” or “E Spec” would make a lot of sense. “CR-V e:FCEV” is a mouthful for the hydrogen-powered version of Honda’s best-selling crossover. But wouldn’t “e:Civic” be easily understood and welcomed by Honda loyalists interested in going electric?
While nomenclature is important, the overall economics are what matter most.
The slowdown in EV sales growth is not unexpected, Aoyama said, given the need to transform the supply ecosystem that touches so many parts of society and the economy. Supply chains must also be reimagined and built, such as Honda’s $11 billion investment in Canada.
With its goals of a zero-emissions pipeline by 2040 and full carbon neutrality by 2050, Honda takes a long-term view of these challenges, based on the idea that electric vehicles are the most effective and efficient way to eliminate emissions from cars and motorcycles.
“We hope this ecosystem will change step by step,” Aoyama said.
Many consumers still have concerns about the range and availability of public charging. Honda is a founding investor in Ionna, a public charging network with plans to install at least 30,000 ports by 2030, to help ensure customers have confidence that the experience will be “convenient, affordable and reliable,” Takizawa said.
Honda has a longer time horizon for electric vehicle adoption, but it isn’t waiting for societal changes or scientific breakthroughs like solid-state batteries.
Acura will launch at least one EV a year, Aoyama said, and it stands to reason that Honda will, too. In 2028, Acura will launch an exotic battery-powered sports car modeled after an NSX — and Aoyama couldn’t help but laugh when he acknowledged that it may or may not be called an NSX.
With all these new electric vehicles coming out, chances are they’ll need to figure this out soon.