A few days ago, Honda announced that its retro small electric vehicle, the Honda E, will officially stop production in January 2024. Chinese consumers may not be familiar with the name of this car, because the Honda e has not been sold in China, but if you see the actual car, many people may feel familiar - isn't this a micro electric car of a domestic brand?
The reason for the discontinuation of the Honda E is essentially sales, and the decision is not surprising that this small electric model did not sell well after its launch. The reason why it does not sell well is mainly because its price and range limit consumers' interest in buying.
It is reported that the starting price of the Honda E is as high as 42,100 euros (about 32.).620,000 yuan), and this is only the starting price, the high-end model ** is more expensive, but the vehicle's range level has not changed. For a small electric vehicle, this is obviously a very high **, on the other hand, the price of domestic micro electric vehicles, no matter which independent brand, even if it is a high-end version, its ** is below 100,000 yuan.
In addition, the car's WLTC range is only 137 miles, or about 220 kilometers, after multiple rounds of testing by foreign media, its actual range is about 170km, and the power consumption is as high as 17 per 100 kilometers8kWh, which undoubtedly limits its convenience in practical use, and compared with the long-range version of domestic micro electric vehicles, this data is obviously less advantageous. **Expensive and with a short range, it's no wonder that this Honda car was never sold in China.
Why is the Honda e**, which does not have an outstanding range, so high?One of the main reasons for this is that the focus is misplaced. In terms of interior, the Honda Honda E relies on a variety of screen stacks to bring an excellent sense of technology design. The interior center console has a total of 5 displays, with the two sides of the screen being an electronic rearview mirror display, and the middle three screens being 88-inch LCD instrument cluster and two 123-inch central control screen, the content displayed on the two central control screens can be interchanged, and different content can also be displayed according to demand, the voice assistant can be activated through OK Honda commands, and the car machine system also supports CarPlay, remote APP and other functions.
For a mini car, these technologies are obviously too far ahead of their time, for example, the exterior electronic rearview mirror looks sci-fi, but in reality it doesn't work very well. The interior of the Honda Honda E, which is too creative, is also quite expensive.
While the cost of using the wrong place is high, Honda has not reduced the cost of the most critical battery for electric vehicles. In terms of power, the Honda E is equipped with a permanent magnet synchronous motor and is available in two different power versions (136 hp or 154 hp) depending on the configuration, with a peak torque of 300 Nm each. However, due to the high price of the battery, only a 35 piece was loaded5 kWh battery, resulting in a shorter range. And this can also be seen that Honda's deep cultivation in the field of electric vehicles is not enough, the upstream and downstream chain system is not perfect, and the labor cost in Japan is also quite high, which leads to the cost of this car has never been able to come down, and it has not been able to achieve the goal of annual sales of 10,000 units in Europe, and finally had to stop production.
It is worth mentioning that in July last year, Honda also brought a limited edition model of the Honda Honda E to Europe. This Honda Honda e has a unique exterior style. The new version features a new high-contrast Crystal Red paint, customised black badges on the front and rear sides, and 17-inch black alloy wheels, which are "huge" for the car's size. F1 World Champion Verstappen was also invited to endorse and promote.
It can be seen that Honda E has not found the right way, and if it does not solve the problem of battery life and **, even if there is more "flower work", it will not be able to get out of the "flower road", and now it is expected to end up with a discontinuation.