Honda’s 0 Series EV Platform Dead: Saloon, SUV, and Acura RSX Axed

Honda’s 0 Series EV Platform Dead: Saloon, SUV, and Acura RSX Axed

Honda, a brand associated with reliability and trustworthiness, had a rough relationship with electric vehicles. Recent forays into the American market EVs have included a partnership with General Motors and resulted in the Honda Prologue and Acura ZDX crossover. The prologue has been a decent success so far, but ZDX bowed its head when the EV tax credit disappeared. But Honda wants more and wants to do something like that. That's why we invested billions of dollars in an all-new, bespoke electrical architecture set to support some new EVs by the end of 10 years. It's called the 0 series and may have been Honda's most important new vehicle platform of modern times.

One of the first cars to wear the 0 series badge was simply called the saloon. It is proudly positioned as the brand's flagship, ready to take on some of the most high-tech EVs out there, and has a futuristic, razor-like sedan. But everything came to dust as Honda canceled its big plans for American-made EVs, citing a slowing U.S. EV market.

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Honda 0 Series: A Whole New Platform

The saloon is a concept car which was introduced in 2024. It's a vertically integrated architecture that gives automakers full control, allowing them to make quick changes to their hardware and patch software issues with wireless updates without waiting for third-party suppliers or developers. Honda has put a lot of effort into integrating lightweight materials into the structure of the car, and it has integrated mega-cast technology, lidar sensors, and finally a level 3 "eye-off" driving.

The platform itself can accept an 800-volt rated battery pack and, as we've seen with 800-volt cars like the Kia EV9 and Porsche Macan, can charge faster than mainstream 400-volt alternatives. Honda did not provide official specifications for charging power or charging session time, but it was aiming for a top-up of 15% to 80% within 15 minutes. It's also worth noting that some 0-series-based models may have gotten a 400-volt battery system to keep costs down, but it's also worth noting that there's a lot of work to do.

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Honda said it will offer 241 hp (180kw) and 67 hp (50kW) 2 versions of the e-axle motor. In other words, the most powerful version of the 0-series saloon would have had a total of 482 horsepower, which is not a record-breaking by a stretch of imagination. But if Honda was able to hold back the weight as promised, it should have been enough for any driving scenario.

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Honda 0 Series Saloon: Design 

There is no way around this: the Honda 0 series saloon was a head turner. The prototype of the 4-door EV looked like a futuristic cartoon, low on the ground, thanks to a slim battery pack surrounded inside the floor. It was a razor-shaped sedan that was bound to get everyone's attention after it hit the city, but the production version rolled up the assembly line. The original show car went through several changes for its second public appearance, with huge double doors replaced by a more conventional set of four doors Inside, everything from profiled seats to a full-width screen and a huge panoramic roof shouted "the future".

Asimo OS, a brand-new operating system that gives a nod to the cool and quirky Honda Humanoid robot, powered it all. It was a big deal, too. This laid the foundation for Honda's future software-defined cars, future connected cars, autonomous driving, wireless updates, and more. Like its Japanese rival Toyota, Honda is behind new players like Rivian, Tesla and the Chinese automaker in software, and Asimo OS is a brand-new product.

Honda 0 Series Saloon: Availability

The Honda 0 Series Saloon was originally scheduled to go into production in Ohio this year as the first model based on the 0 Series platform. However, after several setbacks, including the cancellation of the $7,500 federal tax credit, Honda has decided to postpone the launch of the 0-series saloon to 2027. Eventually, the project was canceled and equipped with 0 series SUVs and Acura RSX.

Honda 0 Series Saloon: Price

Honda has not yet released the figures, but it was widely expected that the 0-series saloon would start at about $50,000. It didn't make it a cheap new EV, but it put it around the average new car price in the U.S.