Japanese automaker Honda will launch its first mass-produced electric car in October, the company said on Thursday.
The EV will go on sale on October 30 at a retail price of about $42,000. Honda aims to sell the compact car, which is fitted with cameras instead of door mirrors, mainly to urban consumers.
The electric vehicle can travel 300 km on a single charge. It is shorter compared to competitors’ EVs, as the company prioritized compactness, forcing it to reduce the size and capacity of the battery. The car is less than 4 meters long.
The compact EV is also equipped with a new parking system designed for use in narrow spaces. Tomofumi Ichinose, Honda’s senior chief engineer, says that “Its smallness is a big attraction,” noting that it will be easy to use in crowded urban areas.
Door mirrors on both sides of the car have been removed so that the rear of the car can be seen on a screen inside through a camera.
Honda claims that the display images will be clear even in the rain. The car has a digital dashboard, comprised of five screens arranged horizontally, to ensure natural vision for the driver.
The model will only be sold in Europe and Japan at the time of its launch in October. Honda expects annual sales of only around 10,000 in Europe, and 1,000 at home, where it will also introduce the model into its car-sharing fleet.
The automaker said it had no plans to market the car in North America or China, its biggest markets where SUVs dominate.