As we all know, in the current Honda car series, the hardest is the Passport TrailSport sold in the US market and the Carrierline based on pilot, but they are all SUV "off-road" products, the hardcore off-road market has an increasingly popular trend, but why does Honda not produce hardcore cars?
Honda also has hard-hitting cars
First of all, the proposition "why doesn't Honda have hardcore off-road vehicles" is not entirely correct, because twenty or thirty years ago, Honda produced and sold authentic off-road vehicles.
The first-generation Land Rover discovery is shown above, and the Honda Crossroad below
In the 1980s and 1990s, cross-shareholding and cooperation among multinational car companies were very common, and with the rise of the off-road vehicle and SUV market, Honda also began to consider the introduction of hardcore models. It just so happens that in the 1990s, Honda AndY had a good relationship with INF Motors, and the first generation of Rover Motors found that sales were really good.
Honda Also pursued the "take-ism", borrowing the first-generation discovered body, the discovered chassis, and the discovered 3.9L V8 engine, and launched its first hardcore model, the Crossroad. The crossroad is 99% similar to the discovery, and the details are almost the same except for the different logos.
With the BMW Group's acquisition of Rover Motors, the OEM production of Crossroad came to an end. At the same time, Honda launched the well-known urban SUV, the CRV, and the similar appearance of the Skywalker once made people wonder if there was any relationship between the two.
In addition to the Crossroad, Honda also launched another hardcore off-road vehicle based on the Isuzu Amigo OEM, the JAZZ, which later became the Fit in the Chinese market. At the same time, because of the strong relationship with General Motors, Isuzu Amigo also appeared in the European and American markets with brand logos such as Opel, Chevrolet, Horton, and Vauxhall.
Thanks to its good relationship with Isuzu, Honda also launched a model called Horizon based on Tulu, which was the same size as toyota LC and Nissan Tule at the time, and later appeared in the North American market with the Acura logo, known as the SLX, and later became Acura's flagship SUV, the MDX.
Why doesn't Honda produce off-road vehicles
Jeep Willis
Mitsubishi CJ-3B
Nissan 4W60
Toyota BJ series
Why is Honda keen on OEM and does not follow the "Honda Technology Research" research momentum to develop its own off-road vehicles? As we all know, all hardcore buggies in the world have a common "ancestor". After World War II, for various reasons, Nissan, Toyota, and Mitsubishi Japanese manufacturers took willis drawings to produce "Willis" for the U.S. military, which led to the later FJ, Tourer and other classic hardcore off-road vehicles. Later SsangYong cars are also in this way.
Honda is different, in the above three big factories in the era of red-hot cars, it has just started, and the initial product is a motorcycle, no car production line and no experience in manufacturing cars, obviously will not become an alternative. You know, at the beginning of the birth of Willis, there was also an American brand that lost the opportunity to develop due to insufficient production capacity, and eventually fell.
Although it did not become an off-road vehicle manufacturer, honda-made motorcycles performed very well in the off-road rally. In terms of automobiles, with the study of technology, Honda has successively launched Slyans such as Civic and Accord. Don't think that Honda is just "taking" and not giving, Rover Cars, which were contemporaries of Honda Crossroad, also have cars from OEM Honda, such as the Rover 600 is actually a redesigned Accord, and the Rover 800 is based on Honda mileage.
After the transformation, the Crossroad became a square-looking urban SUV
Although everyone is building cars, car building also pays attention to the word "inheritance". For example, Land Rovers focus on SUV manufacturing; such as lotus, Ferrari and other sports car brands. After the average sales of OEM cars and the company's strategic adjustment, Honda gradually returned to the urban SUV battlefield, and the original CROSSROAD, JAZZ, HORIZON, PASSPORT and other models have successively become load-bearing body SUVs.
In the 1990s, Honda launched the Honda Passport based on the Isuzu MU. Honda Passport then discontinued production in 2022 in order to make way for CRV. In 2018, Honda revived this model, positioning itself as a mid-size SUV, between the CRV and the Pilot.
At the end of 2021, Honda launched the mid-term redesign of passport, and added a "off-road" model to the passport -
TrailSport。
TrailSport's exterior parts are decorated in black, visually less emphasis on home use, but more emphasis on off-road and sports. Its ground clearance is 206mm, the approach angle, pass angle and departure angle are 21.1°, 17.3° and 24.3°, respectively, and the traction weight reaches 2267kg. In terms of power, the Passport is equipped with a 3.5L V6 self-priming engine with a maximum power of 208 kW and a peak torque of 355 Nm, with a maximum power of 210 kW, and is paired with a 9-speed automatic transmission.
The TrailSport model is also equipped with Honda's i-VTM4 all-wheel drive system, which Honda says makes the Off-Road Capability of the Passport higher than that of competitors (Chevrolet Trailblazer/Ford Sharp Edge, etc.) in the US market. Its 4WD mode also features a multi-terrain mode, which allows the driver to choose the driving mode based on different terrains, including sand, snow, mud, and paved roads.
In addition to the Passport TrailSport, Honda also has a pickup truck model in the American market, the Ridgeline, but it is also a load-bearing structure. It is equipped with a driveline and four-wheel drive system that is exactly the same as the Passport.
The Ridgeline Overland Project at the SEMA Modification Show, which adds off-road kits and camping kits, looks almost identical to non-loader pickups. Mild off-roading or occasional up and down the river is also sufficient.
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