23/11/2025

Contributing Editor Keshy Dhillon / keshy@piston.my Editorial

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SUNDAY | NOV 23, 2025

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The Super One rides on 15-inch wheels.

BY KESHY DHILLON Super fun!

Honda prototype shows that small EVs don’t have to be boring

CHINA has undoubtedly taken the lead when it comes to electric cars. It has been so successful that it has forced giants of the car making business to follow suit. Some of those giants have been good at emulating while some carmakers, particu larly those from Europe and America, have lost huge amounts of money just to keep up. The Japanese however have taken cau tious steps. Until recently, Honda has largely been absent from the electric vehicle segment, in Malaysia at least. The recently introduced e:N1 is a decent salvo at the segment but it hardly made a dent in the market nor did fans of electric cars sit up and take notice. But while Chinese car makers and per haps even Tesla itself will tell you that elec tric cars are the “be all, end all” solution to world’s mobility and environmental prob lems, Honda has taken a completely differ ent approach (though we all know that’s not true). As I found out recently during a trip to the Japan Mobility Show (previously known as the Tokyo Motor Show) and sub sequent question and answer session with Honda’s top management, the company still believes that hybrids play a big role in transport. But despite that, it also believes that bat tery electric vehicles have a place in sup porting a sustainable environment. Honda says it will continue its research and devel opment programmes for electric cars and already has a few cars set to be launched in 2026. One of those cars is the Honda Super One Prototype. It is a small and fun electric car that has Honda’s fun loving DNA very much in its circuitry. And I have driven it. BUT FIRST, WHAT IS IT? In terms of sizing, it reminds me of the Honda City Turbo from the 1980s. It has kei

car like proportions and if you’re not famil iar with that term, a quick Google search defines it as a “light vehicle that sits in a category of small, lightweight vehicles in Japan that must meet specific regulations for size, engine capacity and power”. The regulations mentioned include a maximum length of 3.48m in length, 1.48m in width and a height of 2m, as well as a maximum engine displacement of 660cc. The Super-One prototype does not meet all of the requirements of a traditional kei car since it is electric powered, but on first glance a kei car is exactly what it looks like. During the product presentation for the Super-One prototype, there were two words that kept recurring – fun and joyful to drive! The presenter mentioned that the cae was developed to be “fun to drive, which is part of Honda’s fun loving spirit”. The Super-One is based on the N-One e: (that colon is weirdly part of the official name of the car but for the sake of good English, I will stop using it after this), which also shares its underpinnings with the N Van e: (colon is again part of the name but I will stop now). In fact, all three cars are built on Honda’s lightweight platform for N Series models. And the N-One e and the Super-One pro totype are also loosely based on the Honda N-one, a true kei car with a 658cc, petrol engine, first introduced back in 2020. Back to the N-One e, it is powered by a 29.3kWh battery pack that gives it a WLTP range of 295km. This is important informa tion to remember for later in this article. SO IS THE SUPER-ONE PROTOTYPE FUN TO DRIVE? It is built to be fun, and it definitely is, as what I experienced around Honda’s Tochigi proving ground. A big part of the car centres around the augmented engine sound. This is precisely

The interior of the Super One is simplistic but purposeful.

Does this look familiar – perhaps because you have seen it on a Honda City.

A big part of the car’s character revolves around the Boost button on the steering wheel.