Honda has released a teaser image of the upcoming 2024 Prologue electric SUV, which will be the company’s first battery-electric vehicle sold in the United States.
The company also emphasized its hybrid vehicles as a way to address concerns that it has been slow to implement an EV strategy in comparison to its competitors.
The Prologue will be the first of two vehicles co-developed by Honda and General Motors that will use the latter’s Ultium battery packs. The other vehicle will bear the Acura nameplate and will be developed in collaboration with GM, but no new information has been released. The Prologue, which will be available in 2024, is also the first in a series of 30 hybrid, battery-electric, and fuel-cell vehicles that Honda plans to release by 2030.
These EVs will be based on a number of EV architectures developed by Honda, some in collaboration with General Motors. The Honda Prologue and Acura EV will be built on General Motors’ Ultium platform, which also powers the Hummer EV pickup truck and Cadillac Lyriq SUV.
Honda’s other EVs will be based on the Honda E architecture, which will be introduced in 2026. Honda intends to release a lineup of “affordable” EVs, including a compact SUV, in 2027. Those vehicles will be built on a new EV architecture developed in collaboration with GM.
Honda plans to sell 60,000 Prologue SUVs in the United States in 2024, 70,000 in 2025, and 300,000 in 2026, according to Mamadou Diallo, vice president of sales for American Honda Motor. More broadly, the company says it wants battery-electric and fuel-cell vehicles to account for 40% of its sales by 2030, 80% by 2035, and 100% by 2040.
The Prologue, as seen in the teaser image, borrows some subtle design cues from the popular Honda E city car. Honda also emphasizes the vehicle’s long wheelbase and short overhang, or the length that extends beyond the wheelbase. The Honda Design Studio in Los Angeles collaborated with a design team in Japan to create the Prologue.
“We wanted to ensure that Prologue represents both a true Honda EV and something that would look right at home in the showroom right next to the rest of our SUV lineup,” Diallo said.
In comparison to other automakers, Honda’s current electric lineup is extremely limited. The Clarity EV was recently discontinued, but hydrogen and plug-in hybrid versions of the vehicle will continue to be sold. The Honda E, on the other hand, is only available in Japan and Europe.