Could the Honda 0 Series Saloon concept preview the 2026 Honda Legend EV?

At CES 2024 in Las Vegas, Honda announced the Honda 0 Series, which is what the H brand will call its upcoming lineup of fully electric (EV) models. Planned to be launched into the global market in 2026, two concepts were unveiled to showcase Honda’s new EV direction.

If you read past the headline, we’ll focus on the Saloon concept here. Honda describes it as the flagship concept model of the Honda 0 Series and embodies Honda’s latest approach to its future EV models – Thin, Light, and Wise.

Thin augments design potential with emphasis on low vehicle height to achieve excellent aerodynamic performance with a ‘thin’ dedicated EV platform.

The Light approach aims to realise sporty driving and electricity efficiency performance of EVs through original Honda technology. The final approach, Wise, incorporates the knowledge Honda has amassed to date and makes cars wiser through the advancement of intelligent technologies.

The Honda Saloon Concept embodies all 3 approaches while also elevating the brand’s ‘Man maximum, machine minimum’ (M/M) concept in an era of EVs.

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The low height and sporty exterior styling is certainly a futuristic take and one that everyone probably imagines when picturing a car of the future. The sharp and sporty design though reveals a very spacious interior, freeing up more interior space than a conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle.

The instrument panel also features a human-machine interface (HMI) that enables simple and intuitive operations that make a sophisticated and seamless user interface (UI) possible. Honda claims that the Saloon strives to provide a fun driving experience that resonates with the driver’s sensibility thanks to the combination of wide visibility and intuitive UI.

The Saloon concept also adopts steer-by-wire technology and the further advancement of the motion management system including posture control. Honda amassed the latter tech through the development of original robotics technologies.

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Being the flagship model of the Honda 0 Series, Honda envisions the Saloon as the “ultimate ‘joy of driving’ in the EV era”. Could the Saloon concept preview Honda’s BMW EV fighter for the 2030s?

Speaking of which, Honda might even be hinting at the return of the Legend which was its flagship. The last generation was discontinued in 2021 following the closure of the Saitama plant with no successor in the works.

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For now, no figures are mentioned and the Saloon remains a concept study. Honestly, though, the Saloon’s low and sleek shape isn’t entirely new to Honda as 20 years ago, it introduced the Kiwami Concept which has a similar silhouette. The green technology buzzword at the time was fuel cell technology and the Kiwami was envisioned to be powered by the system.

The 0 Series range is expected to be introduced to the market within the next two years and it would be really surprising if the Saloon Concept’s design gets carried over into production. North America will be the debut market followed by Japan, Asia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and South America.

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