What you see on the cover photo’s rendering is not officially Honda’s answer to the Toyobaru GR86/BRZ but rather what Japanese media envision as the upcoming 2028 Honda Prelude. Fans that worship VTEC would recognise the Prelude as the ultimate JDM dating car and it has been years since the last Prelude was sold.
Recall that the H badge teased a sports car as one of its 30 new battery electric vehicle (BEV) models it plans to launch by 2027 back in April. However, it’s still too soon to get super excited over the all-new Prelude.
Honda calls it a “speciality” model while the team at BestCarWeb dubs this the “Prelude successor model”. The Japanese publication’s vision of an all-new electrified Prelude differs very strongly from the Sports EV Concept’s design but the latter was shown all the way back in 2017.
BestCarWeb’s rendering of the speculated all-new Prelude is very similar to the GR86/BRZ and if the actual car resembles this, it wouldn’t be the first time that Honda’s designers copied took inspiration from an existing Toyota.
The second-gen Insight’s look was heavily criticised for looking too much like the third-gen Prius but then we can’t simply judge a render since it’s all based on speculations.
Reviving the Prelude’s name on an EV sports car makes more sense than on some crossover since the core values are basically the same. It’s too early to speculate what batteries or platform could the Prelude EV would even sit on but we know that the days of Honda VTECs are about to end.
Clockwise from top left, the 4 generations of the Prelude
The Prelude was heavily favoured among female drivers and in Japan, it was considered a dating car. Throughout its 5 generations, the Prelude has always been a front-engine, front-wheel-drive (FF) sports car so could this revived Prelude switch things up with an electric motor?
Traded advertising for a career that fits his passion for cars. Enjoys spotting cars during his free time and has a soft spot for Japanese Kei cars but drives a thirsty manual sedan.
