Honda’s all-electric Prologue, a collaboration vehicle manufactured in tandem with GM, has been a serious hit for the brand. The Prologue was the best-selling non-Tesla EV in the US in Q4. Using Tesla as a touchstone seems telling, revealing Honda’s intentions in the industry. However, Honda isn’t limiting itself and plans to offer vehicles with an array of powertrain options—gas-powered, hybrid, and electric—to please a wide spectrum of customers. After all, as Honda America’s vice president of sales Lance Woelfer asserts, “electrification is a marathon, not a sprint.” “The road to electrification will have some twists and turns,” concedes Jay Joseph, vice president of American Honda’s Sustainability and Business Development business unit. “It will be based on what customers want; we can’t force customers into vehicles they don’t want, so it’s on us to make them appealing.”  In the meantime, Honda has debuted two EV concepts with exclamation point-looks: an SUV and a sedan. The sedan, which Honda calls the Saloon, set tongues wagging as it evokes memories of the angular Lamborghini Countach or DeLorean DMC-12. Futuristic and reminiscent of Honda’s iconic humanoid robot ASIMO (Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility), the 0 Series models didn’t debut at CES as a lark. They’re both confirmed for production in 2026 at the Honda EV Hub in Ohio. The ASIMO robot, seen in an advertisement from the March 2005 issue of Popular Science. Following the automaker’s “Thin, Light, and Wise” engineering philosophy, the upcoming 0 Series vehicles are positioned to take on Elon and the fresh wave of EVs washing up all over America’s shores. Applying new wisdom to the battery-electric vehicle lineup Honda’s new EV development approach is a step up into the company’s electrification age, evolving from its human-centric M/M (Man Maximum, Machine Minimum) concept. “In this new era of battery-electric vehicles (BEV), we had to think about how we can take the good parts of Honda and further advance those values,” VP of Honda’s BEV Business Unit Mitsuru Kariya told Popular Science in a one-to-one interview. “That led to this concept of ‘Thin, Light, and Wise.’” Honda will build its all-electric 0 Series Saloon and SUV in its EV Hub in Ohio. Image: Kristin Shaw/Popular Science Thin and light, Kariya explains, are about efficiency, much like the original M/M Honda philosophy. In the BEV era, things like lightweighting, coefficient of drag, and superior aerodynamics all became more important to increase efficiency. Also, in an EV all of the systems (the brain, or “wisdom”) are connected, including the vehicle controls, infotainment, autonomous driving, and driver-assist systems. Kariya says Honda wanted to be clear that the choice of words—wise versus smart—reflected not just making the cars smarter but evolved for the next generation. That wisdom culminates in Ohio, as Honda can build gas-only, hybrid, and EVs all on the same line. And, Joseph mentions, the goal is to get solid state batteries into production by the end of this decade.  Also important to the new EV lineup is an all-new operating system, called ASIMO after Honda’s beloved robot. Simultaneously, Honda is working with Tokyo-based Renesas Electronics Corporation to develop high-performance chips.  Taking on Tesla  The evolution to EVs leads to another important technology, and that’s autonomous driving. Automakers have been talking about Level 3 autonomous driving for years, and Honda has achieved L3 in Japan. But let’s back up a minute to explain what the levels mean. Level 1 autonomous driving, as defined by Society of Automotive Engineers International (SAE), is in place when driver-support features provide steering or brake/acceleration. Level 2 provides both options at once; for instance, lane centering and adaptive cruise control at the same time. That may seem ho-hum only because that’s the level most of us have experienced in new cars over the last few years. Level 3 indicates the vehicle is equipped with technology to drive the vehicle in limited circumstances. The driver, though, must be ready to drive at any time. That last level is where Honda is heading. The 0 Series models are “set to advance Honda’s global leadership of Level 3 (eyes off) automated driving.” Honda believes “the widespread use of eyes-off technology will lead to the realization of zero traffic collision fatalities in the future.” As a result, Honda is actively pursuing automated driving technologies through the Honda 0 Series. Tesla’s FSD, or fully self-driving, mode may sound like Level 3 or even Level 4, but right now it’s firmly in the Level 2 category.  “Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (Supervised) are intended for use with a fully attentive driver, who has their hands on the wheel and is prepared to take over,” reads Tesla’s site. Karyia makes the distinction between the two companies’ philosophies as human-centric versus machine-centric.  While EVs are front and center, Honda will continue to make gas-only and hybrid vehicles to match customer demand. Images: Kristin Shaw/Popular Science “Whether it’s autonomous driving or the software-defined vehicle, I think you see both Tesla and Honda evolving and competing fiercely with each other,” he says. “When I think about what Honda values, what Honda’s about, we’ve always been focused on vehicle development that is human-centric. In my opinion, when Tesla develops cars, they’re thinking about autonomous driving or making an autonomous vehicle.” In contrast, Honda’s focused on making vehicles people like and are fun or easy to drive on long trips, Kariya explains.  “We’ve always had that kind of perspective and I think that’s a real strength for our company,” he says. 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