But the really important differentiator between the Super-N and the E is that the newer car has a job to do in bolstering Honda’s EV sales mix.
The E was a halo product – a premium-leaning, tech-heavy flagbearer for the Japanese firm’s bold electric age, and one that was pitched well clear of the mainstream at around £37,000. It was an eyebrow-raising list price even before you consider it had a shorter range than nearly every other electric car on the market.
“In terms of what it will do for us, the price point will be very important,” says Adamson of the Super-N. “And the opportunity for this car, from my perspective, is not only our existing customer base.” The plan is for the Super-N to appeal as much to young drivers in the city as it does to existing CR-V and HR-V owners, for example, who need a smaller station car or school run shuttle.
With that in mind, Adamson emphasises, “the affordability of this car” is key. Honda won’t give even a rough steer on pricing with the car still half a year from showrooms – but given the Super-N is more upmarket than the £15k Dacia Spring and Leapmotor T03, but sized and specced to do battle with the incoming Renault Twingo and Volkswagen ID 1, a starting price of just under £20,000 seems likely.
Aside from the flared wings, wider tracks (which take it beyond the width limit for a kei car), racy 15in alloys and slightly more ‘aggressive’ (it’s all relative) bumpers, the Super-N is visually unchanged from the N-One E kei car on which it is based. The prototype we drove at Honda’s test track in Japan was wearing some mean-looking Advan performance tyres, but Honda has yet to confirm if these will come as standard in the UK.
Honda won’t tell us yet precisely how technically different the Super-N is from the N-One E, beyond the fact that it’s more performance focused. Engineers did suggest, though, that the fundamental ‘package’ of the base car is unaltered, so there should still be a 29.6kWh battery under the floor giving slightly less than the more sedate standard car’s 183-mile range, and capable of charging at up to 50kW.
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