The report is the second part of a two-chapter series examining certain highlights of Honda Motor’s future models for the next decade.
Cars
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With year-to-date sales of 73,712 cars, the Japanese market’s best seller remains the N-Box, N-Box Custom and N-Box Joy family. Which is quite a feat as the Honda brand has been generally dropping down the sales ladder, though nowhere near as badly as Nissan. Nor can any rival really compete with the country’s biggest brand: in April eleven of the top dozen (non-Kei) passenger vehicles were Toyotas. The Honda Freed was in fourth place, followed by the Vezel in sixteenth and the Fit seventeenth.
N-Box generation four is due in the fourth quarter of 2029 but before then, there will be a facelift for the model launched in October 2023. We should see that in 18 months’ time.
Jumping up to the B segment, the Fit/Yaris remains Honda’s global model. Premiering at the Tokyo motor show in October 2019, the existing range is now some three years away from being replaced. GAC’s China-made Fit will likely debut a restyle in the coming months, followed by equivalents for and built in other major markets.
India’s new Amaze
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By GlobalDataIndia has its own special model in the Fit-size class, the Amaze being 3,995 mm long and powered by a 66 kW 1.2-litre petrol engine linked to a CVT. The latest one, which is a re-engineered version of the previous Amaze, dates to December 2024. Its successor is due in 2031.
We should see a new City later in 2026 (though not until 2027/2028 for India), the existing GN series model having been around since 2019. The PF2 architecture model will yet again be mainly marketed in Asia and powered by 1.0 and 1.5-litre petrol engines. Length, which was greatly expanded for GN, will likely remain around the 4.5-metre mark.
Moving up into the global C, but in fact almost D segment due to the size of generation eleven, the Civic is now past its mid-point, the successor being three years away. The USA and China should again be the best markets with hybrid drive the default powertrain. Bodies will be sedan and five-door hatchback.
Prelude returns
Next year marks the return of the Prelude, a once-innovative small coupe from long ago. We first learned of Honda’s intention to re-imagine the nameplate via a concept at the 2023 Tokyo motor show.
The production model, a hybrid, will arrive later in 2025; this after the premiere of an updated prototype displayed at a Honda Red Bull F1 event in Japan earlier this year. The powertrain will be a 2.0-litre engine plus a pair of motors and unlike every previous generation, this one will be a hatchback. One novelty is the seats, these differing, with the one for the driver having grippier bolsters. As for the life cycle, this should be six years with a facelift towards the end of 2028. The US will receive the car “at the end of 2025” it was stated on 15 January.
Generation eleven of the Accord is still young, having debuted in the USA in November 2022. That also means there should be a facelift later in 2025 for that market’s 2026 model year. This has in fact already been seen, GAC-Honda launching a restyle in February. Dongfeng-Honda’s equivalent is the Honda Inspire.
Next Accord’s production plants
The twelfth evolution of this large sedan is due to be revealed in the final quarter of 2027, again by American Honda. Marysville (Ohio) as well as factories in China will be the main manufacturing plants. There will again be exports to Japan.
The Prelude is far from being the only additional model working its way through the new products pipeline. In 2026 the first 0 Series model will premiere, this being special series of EVs as previewed at CES 2024 and CES 2025. These cars will also feature the new H-pattern logo.
The zero series Saloon, to be followed by multiple SUVs, will be rolled out globally, starting from North America, then to Japan, Asia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and South America.
Minivans
Now in its third generation, the Freed is a 4.3 long five- or six-seats MPV sold mainly in Japan and other Asia-Pac markets. Its life cycles are unusually lengthy, so the existing one likely won’t have a successor until 2032. It was launched in June 2024 and would be due for a facelift in 2028. Generation four will share a platform with the equivalent Fit/Vezel; the current Freed also does.
As with its far smaller companion, RL6, the US-made Odyssey, is long-lived. Launched in 2017 for the 2018 model year, it received a second facelift in July 2024. That means the next generation won’t arrive until model year 2028. Electrified power should be standard for RL7 while length will almost certainly again exceed 5.1 metres.
Shifted to China after Sayama plant closed
The made-in-China Odyssey is on a different manufacturing cycle and is in fact an entirely separate vehicle to the Alabama-built Odyssey. Originally developed for the Japanese market, it is no longer manufactured there, all production being based in China.
GAC Honda has exported the RC shape Odyssey to Japan since September 2023 and this should continue for the next model. That vehicle has been delayed several times and will replace a twice-facelifted and currently almost a dozen years old model later in 2025. Hybrid power is expected and this alone should ensure a way better sales performance than RC has achieved in recent times.
SUVs
Exporting models from India is an expanding part of Honda’s strategy for Asia and ASEAN markets. The DG5 series Elevate for example is already shipped to Japan. There it is sold as the WR-V. Launched in 2023, the small SUV is produced at HMIL’s Tapukara plant in Rajasthan. It will be joined later this year by an electric variant (code: DG9D).
The Elevate is due for a styling makeover in 2028 and a successor in 2031. Until it becomes clear whether DG9D is a separate model or simply an Elevate EV, its life cycle is not yet known. Some sources it will be marketed as the Elevate Ace.
Winsome Runabout-Vehicle
Returning to the WR-V, there is another ‘Winsome Runabout-Vehicle’, this one being for Malaysia and Indonesia. Build also takes place in both those countries, while there are exports to Thailand. It is an older model than Japan and India’s WR-V/Elevate and therefore due a successor in the late 2020s. Its mid-life facelift should happen in 2026.
In just over two years’ time, the next Vezel or HR-V as it is known in Europe and certain other markets, should be revealed, as should its electric counterpart. The latter is known by multiple names, such as e:N1, e:NP1 and e:NS1. Adding to this possible confusion, there is another HR-V. This one is sold mainly in North America. Its European twin is the ZR-V. This is larger and one year younger, so the successor should arrive in 2028 or 2029 after a facelift later this year.
CR-V #7 in 2027
The bigger HR-V is positioned below the CR-V, the latter being a major model for Honda’s Chinese and US divisions. The sixth generation was revealed in July 2022 and has been in production worldwide since later that year. Both Dongfeng (CR-V) and GAC (Honda Breeze) manufacture and market the model in the PRC. The eventual replacements should premiere worldwide in the second half of 2027.
American Honda’s Passport, which is sized one class above its best seller, the CR-V, has become ever larger over the decades. With strong links to the even bigger Pilot (they share a platform), the YF9 series model has only just been launched. It has a standard 3.5-litre V6 linked to a ten-speed automatic gearbox. There is a more rugged looking Trailsport derivative too, each being new for the 2026 model year.
With the Acura MDX as its twin-under-the-skin, the Pilot too has a six-cylinder engine. The present generation will be three years old at the end of 2025, so a restyle should arrive for the 2027 model year. The next Pilot, expected for MY2030, will be the first one to be electrified. In fact, the current YG shape vehicle could gain a hybrid option in 2026.
Ye Series EVs
China too has certain lower volume and large-ish bespoke vehicles. The Dongfeng Honda GT and GAC Honda GT – each one being an electric sedan – both premiered at last month’s Auto Shanghai. These are the second pair of vehicles in the so-called ‘Ye Series’, following the Ye P7 and Ye S7. These were launched at the end of 2024 and feature the same RWD-4WD EV-specific platform.
Back in North America, and still fairly new, the GM-built Prologue, a large electric SUV, has around six years left to run. Which means it and its Chevy Blazer twin are expected to be facelifted for the 2028 model year. A direct successor seems unlikely with Honda now mostly going its own way when it comes to EVs. Still, General Motors will continue to tweak the Prologue, having given it (and the Blazer) more power as recently as two months ago.
The 0 Series programme launches with the Saloon in 2026 but this will be joined by no less than four alternate body style models during that year and the following ones. These are to consist of a 4.4 m long SUV, a 4.7-m long one and a challenger for the Kia EV-9 in 2027. A second compact SUV is due in 2028 and will surely be more of a coupe-crossover than its similarly sized brother.
Hydrogen
We’re still two years away from the arrival of the next fuel cell model. This one will be Honda’s own, the company and General Motors having decided not to continue their collaboration.
