It’s Time for the Honda Element to Come Back As an EV

The Prologue is fine, but here’s the Honda EV we really want.

byChris Tsui|
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Honda released the first images of its upcoming Prologue EV on Thursday. Sized in between the CR-V and Passport, it's slated to launch in 2024 and be the brand's first electric SUV. This reminded me of an irrefutable fact: It's time for Honda to bring the Element back as an EV.

Made from 2003 to 2011, the Honda Element is described on Wikipedia as a "compact crossover" but, in reality, it looked nothing like the crossovers we know today. It was smaller, more upright, seemingly designed by somebody who only owned a carpenter square, and generally looked like a cross between a panel van and a Mazda RX-8. (Look at those miniature suicide rear doors!)

There wasn't anything quite like it then and there arguably hasn't been anything like it since. If you ask me, though, now is the perfect time for an electric Element resurrection. Think about it. Its extremely upright shape lends perfectly to a floor-mounted battery. The market loves high-riding, plastic-clad, weird-looking family cars way more now than it did back then. And, frankly, the Element's entire look and vibe just happens to be very electric car-esque despite being designed at a time when the original Tesla Roadster was a mere twinkle in Elon Musk's eye.

And you know the flat-floor passthrough between the front seats that the Hyundai Ioniq 5 likes to brag about? Well, take a look at these pictures taken in 2003. Looks very similar, doesn't it?

Give the new Honda Element EV—or Honda "e:Lement" if you really wanna blow Honda marketing's mind—the same interior as the delightfully practical Honda e and we're really cooking with fire. To keep it fresh, Honda could even conceivably adapt it into off-road TrailSport and more athletic Si variants. (Remember the Element SC?)

Do it, Honda. If an S2000 revival is really a lost cause, the least you guys can do is bring back the '00s Honda icon that will actually sell.

Got a tip or question for the author? You can reach him here: chris.tsui@thedrive.com

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