Honda Prelude confirmed for Europe ahead of FoS

Talk about good timing. As Ford prepares to bring back the Capri with what’s likely to be another electric SUV, Honda is also readying its own remake of another storied nameplate for Europe – the Prelude. Only instead of another family car with a chopped roofline, this will be a Prelude as we all hoped it might be: a two-door, low-slung, compact sports coupe. Excellent news. 

Following a reveal at Tokyo last year, the red Prelude Concept seen here will make its European debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, with Honda celebrating 25 years of hybrid performance in 2024. Perhaps a little tenuous given the 1999 Insight was many things – innovative, cool, futuristic – but some way from fast. Still, if that’s the excuse required for a new petrol-electric Prelude now, absolutely fine by us. 

Honda believes that the Prelude will ‘deliver the perfect balance of exhilarating driving pleasure and outstanding efficiency’. There aren’t any concrete powertrain details for the moment, though the Prelude will be front-wheel drive; arguably no bad thing, given what Honda has achieved with the Civic Type R in recent generations. But assuming it shares basically the same platform, let’s hope for a little more than a straight swap of the 184hp Civic e:HEV motor. Additionally, it seems worth noting that this Prelude Concept doesn’t look like a wild motor show one-off, so there’s every reason to believe that the production car that’s coming in the middle of this decade will closely resemble this car. Remember how close the Integra Prototype was to the real thing? Good news both for a pretty plain Honda lineup and a new car market starved of anything even vaguely sporty. 

The interior hasn’t been shown yet, though expect plenty of influence from the Civic and something called a ‘man-maximum/machine-minimum’ approach to the layout, which essentially means keeping it simple. Like the outside, expect a fairly minimalist approach, albeit with physical knobs for the air con and radio.

Tomoyuki Yamagami, Chief Engineer for this project, said: “The new Prelude not only marks the latest chapter in our ever evolving hybrid story, it is also the product of 25 years of pioneering hybrid research and development. Ensuring this model maintains its ‘sporty’ DNA by perfectly blending the efficiency and environmental advantages of electrified driving with an exhilarating experience behind the wheel – liberating users from their daily lives with increased driving pleasure.” 

Which all sounds very good. There hasn’t been a Prelude in the UK since 2001, it’s now 15 years since the S2000 went off sale and even the CR-Z – Honda’s last take on a sporty hybrid – has been gone nearly a decade. It’s been far too long since there’s been a Honda two-door on sale here, so the news of the Prelude’s return at some point soon is a reason to be cheery on Monday morning. And it’s said to be just the start, Honda suggesting that this new coupe acts ‘as a forerunner to future models that embody Honda’s commitment to sports performance.’ Bring it on.