Honda Prelude Returns as a Sporty Coupe, Now with Hybrid Power

• Honda has revealed a new concept car with the iconic Prelude name.

• The Prelude is a two-door coupe that looks remarkably production-ready.

• We don't have any details on its powertrain, but we know it's a hybrid and we're hoping it becomes a reality soon.

CLARIFICATION 10/25/23: A Honda spokesperson said on Twitter that the Prelude concept has a hybrid powertrain, not battery-electric. We have updated this story accordingly.

The Integra is back, and now so is the Prelude. Another exciting name from Honda's past has returned, this time applied to a sporty-looking two-door coupe concept with a hybrid powertrain. Revealed at the Tokyo auto show, the Prelude concept supposedly previews future "electrified" Honda models, specifically sports-car models that promise to prioritize driver engagement and performance.

We don't have any details on the Prelude's hybrid powertrain or which platform it will use, but we suspect it may share underpinnings with either the Civic or the Accord. Hopefully its hybrid setup will have more than the Accord hybrid's 204 horsepower, though it may use a similar configuration simply with a more powerful gasoline engine. Sadly, we don't expect to see any sort of manual transmission, not even a simulated one, as none of Honda's recent hybrids have offered a stick-shift and CEO said the company wasn't considering this approach and would instead use other performance metrics for imbuing engaging dynamics into its forthcoming electrified models.

The Prelude concept looks about exactly as you'd imagine a 21st century interpretation of the coupe from the 80s and 90s to look. It's not radically low-slung, but instead looks somewhat like a sleeker version of an Accord coupe—which itself was discontinued a few generations back. We're hoping that this means a legitimate two-door is returning to Honda's lineup, as the automaker hasn't produced a true sports car since the S2000 or even a coupe since the Civic and Accord dropped their two-door variants.

Though billed as a concept, the Prelude doesn't appear to have any overly fanciful features that would have to change for production. We're hoping that Honda decides to make this car a reality sooner rather than later. The company has indicated that electrified sports cars are in the pipeline, and the other may be a spiritual successor to the Acura NSX. We're excited to hear more about the what's to come, and to get more info on the resurrected Prelude.

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