Tokyo Preview: Honda EV-N concept is retro-adorable, has unicycle storage
by Alex Nunez on Oct 8th 2009 at 8:02PM 
Honda EV-N Concept - Click above for high-res image gallery
When the curtain rises on the Tokyo Motor Show next month, Honda's green-themed display will include what it calls the HELLO! Zone, a showcase for electric vehicles. Why "HELLO! Zone"? Well, we have no idea, other than it reminds us of a certain feline and that the Japanese clearly have a thing for all-caps names and exclamation points. In the HELLO! Zone, showgoers can say, uh, "hello" to the excruciatingly neat, relentlessly cute EV-N concept. It's a retro-styled battery-powered car with a face of a pug puppy crossed with a Trabant and nifty concept-y features like swappable seat fabrics, a solar roof, and a "communications system" embedded in the black front fascia. Most importantly, however, the EV-N's passenger door contains one of those bizarrely kickass UX-3 super gyroscopic robot unicycles, which pretty much makes the EV-N the coolest electric car of all time. We think. Anyhow, when Honda unveils an ASIMO that can both drive the EV-N and then self-deploy on the UX-3, it's time to go hide under your beds, because that'll be the signal that their robot army is ready for world domination. But we digress. Check out the high-res pics of the EV-N in the gallery below.
Gallery: 2009 Honda EV-N Concept
[Source: Honda]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ObliterateWasteNow 8:51PM (10/08/2009)
Aaww, it's so cute! I was just looking at some clean 70s Civics on eBay and thought "Honda should make something more like that again" and tada!
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AutoCritical 7:24AM (10/12/2009)
A cheeky car that boasts a lifestyle change to your transportation needs? Check out the seats. Although they are interchangeable they may not be as good for safety.... Would people even change them? The smart car has interchangeable panels, but not many people actually change them... It looks good, with the theme fitting both the exterior and interior, nothing worse than not feeling like driving a car that looks like how it does on the outside... http://bit.ly/sMBB5
Bill 9:45PM (10/08/2009)
Aww. Somebody at Honda discovered they still had some old Honda 600 body shells around and decided to reuse them. See http://www.synlube.com/images/Honda600sedana.jpg for a shot of the original.
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GoodCheer 10:43AM (10/09/2009)
My local Honda dealer had a totally MINT 600 in the showroom when we went in to look at Fits this summer. It's just astonishing how small they are. So cute. Unfortunately it belonged to the dealership owner and was not for sale.
Bill 12:34PM (10/09/2009)
The girl next door had one when I was a kid. Even though I wasn't old enough to drive yet, it pained me every time I heard her crunch it into 2nd gear. I think I recall that she seized the engine when it threw the fan belt and she didn't noticed the red "overheat" light (the 600 was air-cooled).
pax copia 12:38PM (10/09/2009)
I dig that car but I like the original mini more
Yanquetino 10:14PM (10/08/2009)
Tsk. That'll sure convince consumers that EVs aren't "punishment cars." NOT!
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Rain 1:32AM (10/09/2009)
Tokyo Review,the classic Japanese car enthusiast magazine.
The history of Japanese cars is fascinating:
http://japanesenostalgiccar.com/
Please,Enjoy.
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Alan 5:21AM (10/09/2009)
Honda don't want to convince anyone that an EV can be 'normal' - hence knocking this up in CAD. However on regular AutoBlog there was lots of love for this car, I have no idea why!
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~D. 1:59PM (10/09/2009)
finally! a car with some effin unicycle storage!
my needs have been met.
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