The Honda Prologue Is Nonetheless Crushing It

• The Honda Prologue is constructed by Common Motors, and primarily the identical car because the Chevy Blazer EV.
• Regardless of this, Honda’s solely EV continues to be promoting higher than the Blazer EV.
• It is proof that many Honda prospects are prepared for EVs, and Honda will hopefully have a home-grown EV for them quickly sufficient.

I did not count on Honda’s 2024 electrical veicle technique to work. Largely as a result of I wasn’t satisfied “promoting a Common Motors EV with a Honda badge” certified as a “technique.” The model’s solely EV, the Honda Prologue, is basically a Chevy Blazer EV reskinned, and with Apple CarPlay included. However as a result of GM is much more beneficiant with incentive spending, the Honda tends to be far costlier to lease. I believed that was all a recipe for a gross sales disaster, however right here I’m consuming humble pie. The Honda Prologue is crushing it.

Honda notched 4,130 Prologue gross sales in October, after 3,785 gross sales in September and 5,401 in August. Common Motors doesn’t report gross sales on a month-to-month foundation, however recorded 7,998 Blazer EV gross sales within the third quarter of 2024. The automotive gross sales calendar is extremely seasonal, so we won’t actually annualize these charges merely.

However Honda is conserving the next gross sales tempo with the Prologue than GM is with the Blazer EV. Notably, nevertheless, the Prologue was launched later and had a smoother rolloout than the Blazer EV. And the Blazer EV now has competitors throughout the Chevy showroom: The brand new Chevy Equinox EV, which is simply a bit smaller than the Blazer EV, is now on sale. It may also be had for beneath $35,000 with tax credit.

Photograph by: Jeff Perez / Motor1

Think about Equinox gross sales—9,772 deliveries final quarter—and the Common nonetheless has Honda licked. The corporate’s Cadillac Lyriq can be posting larger numbers than Acura’s ZDX, which is once more fairly comparable beneath. GM moved 7,224 Lyriqs final quarter, a interval of two and a half months. Acura delivered 1,212 ZDXs in October, 979 in September and 1,003 in August. Plus GM sells three electrical vans and has extra EVs arriving shortly.

However we already knew GM’s plan was figuring out. What’s shocking is how effectively Honda has been in a position to get better from its late begin on EVs. Its determination to rebadge a GM product has drawn loads of criticism, however patrons are responding. Regardless of greater lease costs than the near-identical GM EV SUVs, the Prologue presents the identical aggressive EV specs from a model that customers appear to belief extra. Honda has a 20-year historical past of taking hybrids critically, and shoppers broadly count on Honda and Toyota to steer the cost on EVs, too.  

Photograph by: Mack Hogan/InsideEVs

My private Chevy Blazer EV, which is just about the identical automobile because the Prologue.

I would not say both model has risen to that expectation but. However Honda’s momentum is rising, and its first home-grown, long-range EV is ready to reach subsequent 12 months. The Prologue is already a greater product than the slow-charging Toyota bZ4X, for which Toyota did not even trouble to develop in-car route-planning software program or charging knowledge screens. Honda’s possibility is extra fleshed out, with a strong vary determine and good software program. Plus, whereas Chevy’s EVs do not provide Apple CarPlay, the Prologue does. That is an enormous win for regular shoppers, who’re used to the software program.

Plus, Honda has a pipeline of patrons who care about effectivity and working prices, and belief the model to ship on these metrics. That is why hybrids, too, have gotten a much bigger slice of the gross sales pie. Whereas Accord Hybrid and CR-V Hybrid gross sales are down up to now this 12 months, the brand new Civic Hybrid is an electrified model of one of the vital well-liked vehicles for younger patrons. To these younger patrons who’re able to commerce of their Civics, Honda now has an actual EV possibility, and it is changing a number of them. Extra importantly for the model, now that it has an electrical possibility it is now not dropping each buyer who needs a pure-EV expertise. That alone makes the Prologue price it for Honda.

So it is a success. However not a sufficiently big one to hold the model. Proudly owning the longer term would require the institutional functionality to construct aggressive, software-defined EVs in-house. Honda hasn’t but confirmed it might probably try this. It plans to in 2025. Because the Prologue exhibits, if the corporate can pull off even an honest effort, it will not have too exhausting of a time discovering patrons. 

Contact the writer: [email protected]