- The Honda e is a tiny urban electric car we all want.
- Honda says that if customers want one, an e Type R can be built.
- Nothing is confirmed as of yet but Honda has to do this.
If not Type R, then possibly Type S. To recap, the Honda e, as a concept, was arguably one of the coolest from the last decade. It generated so much buzz and interest that Honda simply had no choice but to put it into production. A European drive event was held recently and it was here that the name “Honda e” and “Type R” were uttered in a single sentence.
It was Top Gear that grilled Takahiro Shinya, Assistant Large Project Leader, Head of Dynamic Performance with questions about more speed, more power and more hype. In their words, the response was “unexpected”:
“Well, this new platform, the motor and tyres can all take more [power],” Shinya explained, clearly itching to tell me things he wasn’t supposed to. “What I can say is we love Type R, it’s such a strong halo brand for us. As engineers we want to make Type R of every model, but it’s whether the customer wants it that matters.”
The answer raises more questions than anything else as whenever “Type R” is mentioned, especially by a Honda employee, all enthusiasts want to know more. As Top Gear notes, the Honda e (not expected in North America, at least not any time soon) is available in 134-horsepower and or 152-horsepower versions, both with an identical 232 lb.-ft. of torque. Let’s not forget that the Honda e is RWD with a fully independent suspension.
Hot iterations of future small and compact EVs are in the works (again, nothing for us) and so a hot Honda e fits. End with this: “You’ll probably see something more in a couple of years, not a Type R, but something.”
We’ll take it, even if we can’t have it.
