Small, square, a good portion of the Retro design, paired with lots of high-tech - that's how Honda presents its electrical future. With the Urban EV Concept, the Japanese company is giving an outlook on the design of the brand's upcoming electric vehicles at the IAA in Frankfurt, Germany. The Urban EV is not intended to remain a design study but will be launched in a more defused form as early as 2019.
Front
The shape is reminiscent of the Ur-Civic. Apart from that, the Honda Urban EV Concept has little in common with a conventional car. The front has a square radiator grille with rounded corners, followed by a steep windshield.
Memories of the first Honda Civic generation are the best comparison, and that's what the Honda designers had in mind. The round LED spotlights installed behind glass are separated by a monitor on which various messages can be displayed. The rear window drops off slanted, the corners of the car are very rounded, but the form is still angular. The door handle is also eye-catching here: it is attached to the A-pillar and shows the doors that are hinged at the back, commonly referred to as coach-doors. The huge rims have nothing in common with the old Honda Civic: many spokes hold the rim ring, which houses the tires with a small cross section.
Interior
The Honda Urban EV Concept's interior comprises various elements.
Every single one of them reminds us of cockpits of bygone times. The Honda Urban EV Concept does not have a single seat, but rather two benches similar to the muscle cars of the 1970s. The dashboard looks very elegant due to its wooden construction and could have been installed in an old Rolls-Royce. The futuristic steering wheel brings us back to the future, including the missing fittings.
The steering wheel reflects the outer form of the concept. A large, elongated screen is used for speed display and all other infotainment tasks, which runs over almost the entire dashboard. Screens are also found in the door panels. All information lands on the wide panoramic screen. The dashboard is made of wood.
Personal assistant on board
Similar to the Audi studies presented at the Frankfurt's IAA 2017, the Japanese brand is giving its compact car concept a virtual, personal assistant. The "Honda Automated Network Assistant" acts as a concierge and learns through the gesture of the driver. The system uses what it learns to make later decisions and suggestions more precise.
