- The Honda Prelude returns as a hybrid coupe in 2025
- The new Prelude likely won’t have a manual transmission
- The Prelude is expected to use the Civic Hybrid’s powertrain
The Honda Prelude coupe will return to the U.S. as a hybrid late next year, Honda announced Tuesday.
Honda unveiled a Prelude hybrid concept at the 2023 Tokyo auto show, and subsequently confirmed a production version for Europe while remaining quite about similar plans for the U.S. But Honda’s renewal of the U.S. trademark on the Prelude name in 2023 hinted that the hybrid coupe would reach this market as well.
Launched in Japan in November of 1978, the Prelude was one of Honda’s longest-running nameplates, with production ending in 2002 with a fifth-generation model. For most of that time, the Prelude clothed the mechanical components from more mainstream Honda models in more attractive bodywork, but it never had a hybrid powertrain.
Honda Prelude concept
Honda is still vague on the specifics of that hybrid powertrain, but noted that it will feature a new Honda S Shift+ drive mode that builds on the Linear Shift Control used in the Civic Hybrid to offer a more engaging driving experience. Linear Shift Control is meant to replicate the feel of a transmission shifting through gears in Honda’s transmission-less two-motor hybrid system.
Simulated shifts will likely be as far as things go. Despite the sporty character of past Preludes, Honda has indicated the hybrid will not have a manual transmission. That’s something Honda did offer in its original hybrid coupe, the Insight, which went on sale in the U.S. 25 years ago as Honda’s first production hybrid and narrowly beat the Toyota Prius to market.
Hybrids now make up a significant portion of sales of many of Honda’s most popular models. Honda claims 50% of Accord and CR-V sales are now hybrids, and expects 40% of Civic sales to be hybrids as well. The automaker has also dabbled with hybrid reinventions of iconic nameplates in the form of the last Acura NSX, but the Prelude will take that idea to a larger market.