Honda Unveils Sporty EV Concept

Honda Motor Co. took the wraps off its Sports EV concept car on Wednesday at the Tokyo auto show as part of the carmaker’s new electrification strategy.

The two-seat Sports EV shares a platform with the Urban EV hatchback concept Honda unveiled at last month’s Frankfurt auto show. The carmaker plans to launch a production version of the Urban EV in 2019.

The company hasn’t approved a production version of the Sports EV, but company officials said the car could be introduced as early as 2020 if it gets the go-ahead. For now, the Sports EV concept "simply represents our vision," Honda CEO Takahiro Hachigo tells reporters. If the company green-lights the car, it likely will bow in Japan first before moving to other markets, Hachigo says.

The Sports EV concept features a low center of gravity and wide stance that the company describes as embodying the "beautility" of a sporty car. Honda says the car “combines EV performance and AI (artificial intelligence) inside a compact body.”

Honda offered no details about the car’s powertrain or performance capabilities.

Honda plans to introduce the Urban EV in Europe in 2019 and launch it a year later in Japan. The China market also is being considered, but there are no immediate plans to bring the tiny car to the U.S.

Honda created an Electric Vehicle Development Div. last year and set an ambitious goal of deriving two-thirds of its sales from electrified vehicles by 2030. Last year such vehicles accounted for about 5% of the company’s sales.