Honda resurrecting Prelude nameplate with a new hybrid Coupe
EV fans hoping for more from Honda should look next at its upscale arm, which is reviving the Acura RSX as an all-electric crossover with made in the USA credentials.
The EV will be built at American Honda’s EV Hub in Ohio and will be the first “original” electric vehicle built there. That means it’s an all in-house EV, not one made in collaboration with another company, as are the Acura ZDX and the Honda Prologue, which came out of a GM-Honda program and are built on the same GM platform that underpins the Chevrolet Blazer and Cadillac Lyriq.
The Acura RSX also will be the first production model from Honda that uses the company’s proprietary ASIMO OS artificial intelligence based operating system. It was unveiled earlier this mon at CES2025 in Las Vegas.
Named after the humanoid ASIMO robot Honda developed in 2000 and has been perfecting ever since, the vehicular operating system reportedly is able to recognize and react to external environments and to integrate with the vehicle’s driver assistance and infotainment systems.
Production of the RSX is slated to begin late this year with retail sales expected in early 2026.
Honda, Too
The Honda brand isn’t being left behind.
The company used the CES tech expo in Las Vegas this year to unveil prototypes of an O Series line of EVs – a Saloon and an SUV. Both will also use the ASIMO OS and will be built in Ohio and go on sales sometime in 2026.
Although designed for global sales, the Honda O Series EVs initially will be sold in North America.
More than Electric
In a media briefing. American Honda sales VP Lance Woelfer said the company sees EVs as the best solution for personal vehicles but cautioned that “how we get to 100%” battery-electric vehicles will be based on customer demand.
That’s why, he said, the EV Hub is designed for production not only of not only of electric vehicles and their batteries but for internal combustion and hybrid cars and crossovers as well.
Still, Honda and Acura are growing their electrified lineups and by the end of 2026 will have at least six EVs as well as four hybrids – one of them reviving the Prelude coupe, last built in 2001.
The Roster
Acura already has the RDX electric crossover and will add the RSX sporty crossover in early 2026.
Honda now markets the Prologue electric crossover and, in California only, the CR-V e:FCEV, a one-of-a-kind EV that combines a hydrogen fuel-cell powered electric drive system with a small rechargeable (plug-in) battery pack that’s good for up to 29 miles of range before the fuel-cell kicks in. It doesn’t have an internal combustion engine, but because it has two power sources it is technically a hybrid even though driven only by electricity.
The Honda EV total will swell to four with the two O Series models coming in 2026.
As for conventional hybrids:
- Acura no longer makes any and has said it doesn’t intend to in the future, preferring to stick to EVs and ICEs.
- Honda now offers gas-electric versions of the CR-V crossover and Accord and Civic sedans. The Prelude coupe in 2026 will bring its hybrid portfolio total to four models.