Featured Honda, More EVs For Europe, Not For USA

We weren't going to get it either - but there was something mentioned about the possibility of it:
"5 days ago - Honda E electric car still a chance for Australia ... Honda Australia hasn't given up on bringing its cute-as-a-button electric hatchback ...".

It's only small though - the size of a Fit/Jazz

 

Yeah, I've been idly considering the Fit. There's supposed to a hybrid version in 2020; not only is that not likely to reach North America, the whole Fit line may be gone.

 

We theoretically had the Jazz (Fit) HYBRID here - but I never saw one in a dealer's yard. At present there is only ONE in the whole country 2nd hand.

 

That said - the Jazz itself has been a reasonably good seller over the years - I've considered one a couple of times. Clever layout inside, almost as good as the Renault 16 for practicality.

 

Yeah they seem pretty popular here, and I like the looks. And the base heating/ventilation system controls I RANT about: love the ergonomic, eyes-on-the-road simplicity.

But Honda says fugedaboutit, buy a CRV. There's a hybrid version of that as well, also not slated for NA, or so I've read.

 

Yep, we get the CRV, but we get the HR-V - which is based on the Jazz/Fit but 300mm longer.

You mention heating/ventilation - now I remember why I wiped it off my list, the A/C on the Jazz was quite poor when I test drove one. Admittedly the car had been parked in the sun in summer, but the A/C took forever to reduce the temp, and then not as well as the other cars I'd driven the same day which also had been parked in the sun. The other killer was the engine didn't have much torque, and I had to change gear over three times as often than in the KIA (which I bought).

 

I believe the hybrid CRV is coming to the US.

 

Interestingly, Americans are willing to suspend their all-consuming love for larger vehicles to absorb 150-200K TM3's a year, which are by no means huge vehicles - closer to compact than to midsize.

 

Unfortunately, the locals here have started to get a taste for some of your behemoths - RAM trucks & Chevrolet Silverados are being converted here to RHDrive. Not very practical - our carparks aren't big enough for them. I was really annoyed recently where one was parked - so long that it overhung the carpark behind so much that nobody could get in there AND so he could get out of the driver's door, he hung into the next side carpark - effectively taking up 4 carparks!!!!!!!! GRRRR.

We used to have a lot of small cars and vans - but they've all grown considerably:

SUZUKI Hatch (my son-in-law had an Automatic version!!!):

SUZUKI Mighty Boy Ute (truck)


HONDA Z


SUZUKI Carry - about 3 metres long - there were heaps of these sold here:


SUBARU Brumby Ute - sold well at the time - 4WD - this one had a Bull Bar like a real 4WD!!

 

Maybe Australians are being employed, designing the carparks around here. Dimensions of new construction underground parking in particular, seem to adhere to legal mininum. Guess it's not a selling feature, generous parking stalls and access lanes. You get a lot of blind-corner egresses, cars grazing columns.

 

Indeed; this is not unexpected - humans have always been looking for the ways to improve their operational efficiency and the quality of life. One doesn't need to fear, though, that the vehicles will continue to grow indefinitely as our expectations increase.

That's still too far out; In the next couple of years I hope we will see TMY's, Rivians and F-150 PHEV's.

I think the reason may be some regulation, mandating that a facility of a certain type should have at least X parking spaces per 1,000 square feet or meters, which forces the developers' hand.

 

if only they sold a plug in here

 

@alanclarkeau

The Brumby came to the USA as the Brat, and didn’t stay long.

The idea came back in 2003? as the Baja, with 4 doors, 5 seats and a shorter bed. It stayed longer. I almost bought an ’05.

 

A childhood friend's family had a Brat. Subaru had bolted seats into the truck bed to get around the 'chicken' tax.

 

Yep - I saw that on WIKI


It looks like we had it for 6 or 7 years here, and was quite popular.

Subaru BRAT - Wikipedia

 

stay tuned california...