Honda promises its most adventurous SUV... and wants to bring back the Element?
The Honda Passport is half as popular as its three-row big brother, the Pilot, with which it shares its platform and engine. For 2024, the company wanted to make it more attractive with improved off-road capabilities, slightly modernized styling and a more versatile interior, but sales rose by only 4% in Canada during the first half of the year.
Does the Passport have a future? The answer is yes. A second generation is due to arrive early next year as the 2026 model. And that's not all: with the Trailsport version, Honda promises its most adventurous and off-road-capable SUV ever.
What does that mean? Enough to stand up to the Ford Bronco and Toyota 4Runner and take on the same trails? Hmm... While we wait to see, the Japanese manufacturer refers to “a decidedly robust design, authentic off-road capabilities, superior versatility and innovative features”.
Two images have been released to whet our appetites. The one above gives us a glimpse of a very different front-end design, with the name “PASSPORT” highlighted in the middle of a more geometric-looking grille. The new amber daytime running lights on either side will be exclusive to the TrailSport version. Are you interested?
For those who miss the Element...
Speaking of Honda, the American website Car and Driver has uncovered a U.S. patent application for a vehicle that closely resembles the small Element SUV discontinued at the end of the 2011 model year.
The application had been filed in 2022 but only published at the end of June this year. It shows an SUV with a familiar shape, but with an extendable rear section and roof to create new space for expeditions and camping, for example. As on the now-defunct Element, the rear half-doors are reverse-opening.
Of course, a patent application does not guarantee the launch of a vehicle. Would Honda management want to bring the Element back into a range that today includes the HR-V and the Passport mentioned above? Not for sure. That said, they do seem to have heard the call of adventure.
