Means again at final yr’s CES, Honda rolled out two ideas for its electrical future: The Saloon, a Countach-looking wedge, and a screen-covered van referred to as the Area Hub. Now, a yr later, the Area Hub has develop into has advanced into one thing a lot nearer to manufacturing: A brand new idea referred to as the 0 SUV.
The Area Hub, at its preliminary reveal, was a cabover van with loads of glass, a display screen for a grille, and an inside laid out like a dialog pit — each seat behind the motive force going through each different, so passengers can chat amongst themselves. It wasn’t the form of idea that anybody expects to see go to manufacturing, but its hallmarks are right here within the new 0 SUV. Not unchanged, however recognizable.
The Area Hub had a white base, with black pillars and an identical roof within the entrance of the t0p earlier than the physique coloration swooped up within the rear. That very same format is now discovered on the 0 SUV, with its mild coloration accentuating the chiaroscuro — identical to the Area Hub earlier than it. Positive, the 0 SUV isn’t a cabover, however should you mentally slide that windshield again alongside the Area Hub’s beltline you possibly can start to see the 0 SUV take kind. Look from the again, and the similarities are much more clear.
Take a look at the best way the tail lights wrap round, the design of the rear bumper. The 0 SUV clearly follows within the Area Hub’s design footsteps, whereas eschewing the extraordinarily cool however market-impractical cabover van form for one thing that can promote somewhat higher: A sensible, reasonably-sized crossover.
The van is leagues extra attention-grabbing, no questions there — even its identify echoes the previous Delica Area Gear, one thing the brand new 0 SUV can’t declare — however North American automobile patrons need what they need. Irrespective of how a lot we Jalops need extra variety in automotive design, that is the shape issue that sells. Write your congressional consultant about it or one thing.
The 0 SUV — which isn’t essentially assured to be the crossover’s precise identify at launch — finally ends up wanting like Honda’s tackle Volvo’s present design language. Boxy, upright, squared-off, rear mild bars–all the hallmarks are there. It could be one more midsize crossover, however at the very least it’s a reasonably one.
Honda says the 0 SUV is about to hit North American markets within the first half 2026, with the corporate’s new ASIMO OS at its core and the aptitude for Degree 3 semi-autonomy as soon as U.S. regulators determine to permit semi-autonomous tech to prowl our streets with solely intermittent supervision. The corporate didn’t focus on precise prices for the automobile, however stated that it might “meet the market” — the mass-market counterpart to the Saloon’s halo.