2024 Honda Prologue Electric Vehicle Breaks Cover – Kelley Blue Book

American Honda’s first pure electric vehicle (EV) will be built on a GM platform and looks like an Audi. But the 2024 Honda Prologue will kick off a new era for Honda in the U.S. when it arrives. We expect the Prologue to start in the mid-$40,000 range.

“Neo-Rugged” Styling

Honda calls the Prologue’s styling neo-rugged. The company says the term describes its efforts to bring “the harmony of nature’s elements to the exterior and interior.”

The sheet metal wears gentle curves reminiscent of Audi’s Q5 SUV, but it looks great on huge 21-inch wheels. We’re accustomed to automakers putting big wheels on concept cars and then releasing the vehicles for sale on a smaller set of shoes. But Honda specifically mentions that “the panoramic roof and large 21-inch wheels…give the model a capable and planted exterior.” So the Prologue may make it to showrooms on this impressive set.

The nose borrows its sleek black faux grille from the Honda E, an adorable electric car sold outside the U.S.

Lake Tahoe for a Muse

At launch, Honda says, dealers will offer the Prologue in an exclusive shade called North Shore Pearl, which was inspired by the landscape of Lake Tahoe, California.

The cabin of the display model wears a charcoal and light gray interior influenced by “the visual of fresh fallen snow on the mountains.”

It’s a well-executed design, but it looks much like the cabins in Honda’s gas-powered lineup. A pair of screens – one for the driver’s instruments and another as a central touchscreen – appear to rise out of the narrow dashboard as if they retract into it when the car is off. It shares that look with the current Civic lineup. The screens don’t retract in those cars, so we suspect they don’t in the Prologue.

Unlike EVs from rivals Hyundai and Kia, the Prologue has a false transmission tunnel dividing the seats. EVs lack traditional transmissions, so it’s not clear whether this serves any mechanical purpose or if it’s there for familiarity.

Shares a Platform with GM SUVs

Honda hasn’t answered questions about the mechanical details of the Prologue yet. So far, the company will say only that it is eight inches longer and five inches wider than the 2023 Honda CR-V compact SUV. That puts it comfortably in the midsize two-row SUV class.

From past announcements, we’re almost certain it’s riding on the GM Ultium platform. GM uses that name for a skateboard-like combination of battery, electric motors, and suspension elements. Engineers can scale it up or down to build EVs of many sizes. The two companies announced a partnership earlier this year that would see them co-develop several electric SUVs.

If Honda builds it with Ultium parts, that doesn’t mean it will feel exactly like other Ultium-based SUVs like the Cadillac Lyriq or the 2024 Chevy Equinox EV. Honda engineers would likely seek to differentiate it through tuning, suspension, and steering elements meant to create a distinct Honda feel.

Honda Electrifying With Help from Friends

A German-looking Japanese car on an American platform may sound odd. But as the automotive industry leans into its transition to electric vehicles, Honda has been trying new things like its divorce is about to go through.

The company has its GM partnership. It is reportedly working on its own electric platform for later EV products. And has also agreed to partner with tech company Sony on a separate lineup of cars under a name yet to be announced.

We’ll need to know a lot more before we can pronounce the Prologue a contender in the intensifying midsize electric SUV race.

But, at first glance, it looks like exactly what Honda buyers expect – a familiar set of well-executed ideas with no surprises. Honda will need to keep the price in the mid-$40,000 vein. There, it could compete with the Ford Mustang Mach-E, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV6, and Volkswagen ID.4. It will likely become the preferred option for millions of loyal Honda fans.