Lots of Honda electric cars on the way including 2024 Prologue SUV and new sports car concept to be shown at Tokyo - but will Australia really continue to miss out?

Contrary to how it may seem in Australia, Honda is doing a lot on the electric car front, but market forces are keeping its keen range of new electric cars from our shores.

Honda has announced it will show multiple electric vehicles at the upcoming Tokyo Motor Show in October as part of its evolving electric push. The star of the show will be the just-detailed 2024 Honda Prologue SUV, which is a roughly CR-V-sized fully-electric vehicle using battery and chassis technology from General Motors.

The ambitious new vehicle is part of an electric vehicle team-up between GM and Honda, but is centred around the North American market. The Prologue will share its battery and technology with the Chevrolet Blazer EV, offering a near-500km driving range from its 85kW 'Ultium' lithium-ion battery, 215kW/415Nm dual-motor powertrain, and Google-based internal software on big screens.

While it is promising that Honda will show the Prologue at Tokyo - its first proper mainstream electric car following the diminutive and relatively niche small e hatchback - it will be built in North America exclusively in left-hand drive, ruling it out for an Australian launch.

Honda will also showcase a 'Specialty Sports Concept' as part of its automobile display at the Tokyo show, which is described as “an electric sports car which will enable the driver to experience the pure joy of driving.” This is expected to be a development of the silhouetted coupe vehicle the brand teased in 2022.

Elsewhere in Honda's electric product plan is a larger electric vehicle on a new Honda EV platform, set for 2025 - although this, too, will be focused on the North American market, at least initially.

In Japan, where most recent Honda models destined for Australia have been sourced from, Honda will release an electric van in early 2024, an electric version of its city-sized N ONE hatchback in 2025, and a pair of small cars including a small SUV in 2026.

Meanwhile, in China, Honda has much more aggressive electrification plans, with 10 new models to be on sale by 2027. So far, it has shown four vehicles in concept form, as part of a China-exclusive e:N range. These include a mid-size SUV, two small coupe SUVs, and one GT-styled sedan.

It seems unlikely Australia will see any of these new models, as the larger and more appropriate vehicles for our market are being built only in left-hand drive for the strategically important Chinese and North American markets, while the right-hand drive Japan-market models cater primarily to small vehicle demand, a segment too niche for Australia - and one which has thus far ruled the e hatch out, despite it being on sale in the United Kingdom.

Honda is instead focusing on completing its refresh of its combustion and plugless hybrid vehicle range in Australia, which will be capped-off by the arrival of the larger 2024 Honda CR-V before the end of 2024.

This now gives Honda a wide but expensive range of hybrid vehicles, which also includes the Civic hatch, HR-V small SUV, and ZR-V mid-sizer, but could also include the new 11th-generation Accord flagship sedan, which was just shown in right-hand drive configuration.

The brand is yet to provide any clarity around future all-electric nameplates for the Australian market, although it has said there will be more to be excited about by 2026 as additional electrified models are revealed.