I think it’s great that Honda makes a large, unibody pickup in the form of the Ridgeline. I’m a big Ridgeline fan. If I needed a truck for some vaguely truck-like things, I would seriously consider a Ridgeline. It’s not a Tacoma, though. Nor is it a Ranger. It’s not the truck for everyone. But what if the tariffs could drive Honda to build another, more conventional truck here? That could be cool.
It would be especially beneficial for Nissan, which has too much production capacity in the United States for products that are, at the moment, not particularly aligned with the vibes. The Morning Dump is all about vibes today, and the vibes at Tesla aren’t great. The electric automaker is now a Texas-based company, which means it has to hold a shareholder meeting from time to time. For some obvious reasons, Tesla CEO Elon Musk might not be keen on doing so, but the company has begrudgingly agreed to hold one.
My sense of the car-buying vibes has been that the only cars that would appreciably increase in the coming months would likely be affordable crossovers/sedans and EVs. Maybe my vibe detector is off, because sales slowed a lot in May.
What’s a good final vibe check? China! Maybe not a good final vibe check…
[Ed Note: My god this blog has more vibes than the NSG370 shifter on a Jeep Wrangler JK. -DT]
Nissan Reportedly Might Build Trucks For Honda In The United States
Nissan has three major manufacturing facilities (two for vehicles, one for powertrains) in the United States, which is about two more than it needs, given the company’s continuing lackluster sales. The brand was down more than 6% year-over-year in Q2, which isn’t great considering that the company’s sales were also weak last year. The company’s bread-and-butter Rogue is stumbling, and the Frontier is basically a niche product at this point.
This could have maybe been solved by merging with Honda, but Nissan did not want to be anyone’s subsidiary. When Nissan’s executives rejected a Honda tie-up, they probably weren’t aware of just how damaging President Trump’s tariff threats would be. Nissan’s most popular cars are not the ones built in the United States, unfortunately.
While the tariffs are potentially very bad for Nissan, there’s a possible silver lining. Building out plants and manufacturing capacity is not easy or quick to do, so what if someone could swoop in and absorb some of that capacity? Enter Honda. According to Nikkei Asia, Honda and Nissan are pondering something along those lines:
The site, one of Nissan’s two U.S. vehicle plants, currently focuses on models such as the Frontier, a midsize pickup truck designed for commercial use. Under the deal being discussed, Nissan would make the trucks, which would carry Honda nameplates, and Honda would sell the vehicles under its brand in the U.S.
Pickup trucks — light-duty vehicles with an open cargo bed behind the driver’s seat — account for 20% of new car sales in the American market.
In the U.S., Honda only offers compact pickup trucks. Partnering with Nissan could help the company reach consumers who are seeking full-size pickups.
This is getting interesting. I’ve already mentioned that, according to reports, Nissan and Mitsubishi are going to get together to produce a truck for North America. This vehicle was supposed to be built in Mexico, but there’s no big reason why it can’t be built in the United States, given the “Mr. Japan” of it all.
If you’re curious what driving one of those might be like, Lewin gave the Aussie-spec Mitsubishi Triton a workout.
Tesla Will Have A Meeting In November
What’s it like to be a Tesla investor right now? It depends on when you got in, I suppose. If you bought shares exactly five years ago, then you’re up 200%, which is about double what you’d have earned from a NASDAQ composite index fund. Not bad. If you bought in exactly a year ago, you’re up about 28%, which is great for a single-year investment. What if you were moved by the post-election hype six months ago? Congrats, you’re down 23%.
Tesla is now a Texas-based company after Elon Musk got tired of going to the Delaware Chancery Court, which brought into question the legality of his getting the biggest paycheck in human history. As a Texas company, Tesla must hold a meeting within 13 months of the last one if the shareholders request one (and some did). Initially, Tesla filed that it didn’t have a date for a meeting and didn’t seem in a hurry to hold one, but a quick online campaign by investors seems to have convinced the company to set a date.
Why the reticence? The AP has some ideas:
The annual meeting, given Tesla’s fortunes this year, has the potential to be a raucous event and it is unclear how investors will react to the delay, which is rare for any major U.S. corporation.
Tesla shares have plunged 27% this year, largely due to blowback over Musk’s affiliation with President Donald Trump, as well as rising competition.
Many shareholders have been miffed by Musk’s participation in the Trump administration this year, saying he needs to focus on his EV company which is facing extraordinary pressures.
“An annual meeting provides shareholders with the opportunity to hear directly from the board about these concerns, and to vote for or against directors, the board’s approach to executive compensation, and other matters of material importance,” the group said in the letter.
Maybe Grok can answer the questions.
May EV Registrations Down 5.9%
I like registration data as a view of the car market. There’s a bit of a lag (we’re just getting May’s numbers, via Automotive News), but there’s no hiding. What’s it show? New EV registrations dropped by 5.9% year-over-year, representing just 7.1% of the total market in the United States.
This isn’t a big shock, given that the threat of removing the $7,500 IRA tax credit for EVs drove people to purchase a lot of EVs in the first quarter. With a date for the end of these subsidies now set, I think that the market will rebound. Maybe.
Tesla continues to be a loser (relative to its past self), down 12% in spite of the Cybertruck and refreshed Model Y. In this case, being a loser means selling about 5 times as many cars as the next biggest brand, which is Chevrolet (up 122% year-over-year). All General Motors brands are up, and if you add in Honda and Acura, the company is starting to take a bite out of Tesla.
China Has The Cards
The rest of the world is starting to wake up to the idea that, while Rare Earth metals are key to making electric cars, they’re also necessary for most products that need motors or magnets. For the moment, the country with the best access to these materials and the greatest ability to process them is China.
How’s that going for everyone? According to an interview in Bloomberg, it could be going better:
A diplomatic breakthrough with China is the only short-term fix for easing the shortage of rare-earth magnets, a top executive at one of the largest auto components maker said, as the exports curbs by the East Asian nation chokes the production of electric vehicles.
“In the short term, unless we have a kind of rapprochement with China and get magnet supply flowing, there are limited options for damage control,” Vivek Vikram Singh, chief executive officer, Sona BLW Precision Forgings Ltd. told Bloomberg News.
The curbs underscore China’s dominant position in the global supply chain for this crucial raw material used in making cars to mobile phones. It’s forcing companies worldwide to re-evaluate sourcing strategies as well as prodding governments to accelerate efforts for local production of rare earth magnets.
Diplomacy, how does it work?
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
Hear me out. What if the Song of the Summer was “Everybody Laughs” by David Byrne? I’d love to live in that world.
The Big Question
What should a Honda truck be?
Top photo: Mitsubishi/render by Peter Vieira
there seems to be a dis-connect between tesla shareholders and car-buyers…
shareholders: we want elon back to focus on tesla so sales revenue recovers.
car-buyers: we don’t want to buy a tesla BECAUSE of elon’s involvement.
I think it is going to be interesting to see what Elon says/does with the “American Party” I think he is trying to say “I was fooled, Trump isn’t who I thought he was”. Then maybe he can wash the Cheeto and Tang stains off his reputation and no longer be tied to Trump and all that implies.
However, I think Trump is no fool when it comes to public relations. I think he’s going to try to shift the blame of the most controversial parts of his administration onto Elon. Like I fully expect him to say that the lack of warning of the Texas flooding is because DOGE fired too many people and thus it’s Elon’s fault.
I would think that EV buyers (mostly upper middle class suburbanites) will continue to be turned off by Elon and shop for something other than Teslas.
Anyway, unless something dramatic changes in my finances, I won’t be buying any new car at all for several years. But for right now, I’m going to enjoy Schadenfreude at watching this unfold.
I think he needs to step far away from the party, at least publicly. Who’s he going to attract? Democrats hate him, and remember, his problem is that the Republicans didn’t cut ENOUGH. More people would be losing healthcare and food benefits if it were up to him. No dem is getting on board with that, plus there’s the nazi stuff.
MAGA is mostly going to stick with Trump, they’re ride or die.
Who’s left? Maybe the small percentage of people that mad over the Epstein debacle? I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s single digits.
Those single digits will be from MAGA/Republicans, so by all means, have at it.
Gotta love living in Central Texas where Elon’s ghoulish cuts have made things significantly worse. And he wants more? GTFAC. We really need to make sure that Elon never, ever feels welcome here for what he’s done. He can take his little pity party straight to hell. Dude’s cringe meme agency helped screw up federal disaster response, and actual Texans died.
I’d love for Tesla shareholders to kick him to the curb, but that’s an “I’ll see it when I believe it” kind of deal.
He should be in prison for what he’s done. And most of TX’s leadership should join him there. Voting to cut FEMA one minute, putting their hands out for disaster funds five minutes later. They’re all treasonous weasels.
True but isn’t that the go to of most southern states? We hate big guvment also send us help and money for the flood, hurricane, tornado, drought, fire or plague of locusts
Better yet, he and all his tech-bro cronies need a trip on the Titan 2.0.
Wait, wouldn’t that be 3.0? I though Titan 1.0 was the version called the Titan IC that was unsinkable in 1912.
Reminder to everyone: Both Trump and Musk are guilty as sin regarding the stupidity happening in our government right now. They will undoubtedly try to shift the blame, but they’re both awful human beings.
Absolutely. Now we get to watch the pair of them trying to pin their problems on the other.
If it wasn’t literally life and death, it would be entertaining.
I wish whoever is writing the White House’s scripts these days would just make a Godzilla movie instead. They’re great at monsters fighting each other. 😉
I convinced Vince McMahon rights all the scripts for this crap. Elon pulled a classic heel turn recently.
Setting – Tesla investor’s meeting
Elon: (Some incoherent rambling about robots)
(Glass shatters, music hits, crowd goes crazy)
Jim Ross: Stone Cold! Stone Cold is here and looking to open a can of whoop ass on Elon Musk!
Steve Austin: If you want me to beat the hell out of this sack of crap, give me a “Hell Yeah”!
(Austin delivers stunner to Musk)
(Chugs several beers before delivering another stunner to Musk)
Afterwards, Tesla stock spikes 40% because nothing is real.
May they and their supporters_______. Fill in your worst outcome.
A Honda truck should either be an EREV or PHEV. SOMEONE in the midsize market needs to start making properly hybridized trucks with some electric range.
Ford does. Juuuuusssstttt not for us in North America. The Ranger PHEV is banned to protect the F-150 PHEV.
I really don’t get that decision. Would be a big bonus for people looking at midsized already, and set the ranger apart
Agree that it doesn’t make sense. People buy mid-size to have a better daily driver experience than a full-size. A decent hybrid from Ford would really put the Ranger at the top of the pack.
Last time I checked, there’s no PHEV trucks in North America, The F150 has a mild hybrid setup like the others, but no proper PHEVs.
You are right. my bad. I got my wires crossed on that one
It’s a shame, because other than the impressive numbers, I gather that the F150 hybrid is a POS. I very BRIEFLY thought about one until my research told me to stay far away.
I think the big selling point of the Ridgeline is the comfort/drivability as a daily – cashing in on that reputation in a smaller truck would be a good move for Honda. I also think it should be on the smaller end of the mid-size scale to keep it’s distance from the Ridgline, but with the same efficient packaging to compete with the Tacoma functionally.
You should see in Mexico the amount of BYD Shark (Their PHEV truck), on par with Toyota Tacoma. $45K USD vs $50K USD of the Toyota.
I’ve been thinking Nissan needs to make a PHEV. They could cut themselves off a much bigger chunk of the market. I think Toyota, Ford, and Chevy are too content with their market share to do it (in the US), but Nissan could shake everything up.
The midsize truck market is oversaturated. A true small truck with a useful bed length would be welcome, but with Honda mechanicals, not some Nissan retread. If they’re building it for me it will have a two-door, extended cab with a midgate, hybrid drivetrain, available manual trans, and 6-foot bed. But let’s be serious, no one is going to build that truck, so long bed, midgate, hybrid would suffice. Coming close to the Telo footprint would be cool.
What is a Mid-sized anything anymore?
I think a “mid-sized” truck the size of the original Dodge Dakota would be right sized on today’s market. I just can’t figure out if that is smaller or bigger than a Maverick.
Good point. The Maverick and Santa Cruz are both bigger than compact trucks of yesterday, so neither fits my idea of a small truck, especially when it comes to lift over height for the bed. I think the original Dakota was about 187” long with a. 112” wheelbase, while Maverick is 199” or so and 120”. But those Dakota measurements are for a 2-door, so it’s not an apples to apples comparison. Still, the Dakota defined.the mid size market and Maverick is supposed to be sub mid. Just goes to show bloat infects all truck sizes.
Shoot, not just trucks. I have a 20+ year old Camry and it’s smaller than a new Corolla, especially in height. I swear cars have been gaining size and weight quicker than I have in the last 20 years, and that’s saying something.
I feel your pain.
Nissan didn’t want to be a subsidiary. Instead it’s going to be an OEM?! Okay then.
Honda should be glad they didn’t want to get married. Trying to save Nissan would have only wasted a lot of Honda executive energy.
Saves them a lot of money in piano shipping too.
The one that (fortunately) got away.
I can tell you what it should not be. It should be another Nissan.
My ideal Honda pickup would be a four-door crew cab with a short bed that expands to 7+ feet using an Avalanche-style midgate that can be entirely removed (i.e. not a small pass-through; why didn’t the midgate concept catch on??). Since I’m living in fantasy land, this truck would also be a PHEV with an EV range of 20+ miles.
I really want a truck like this.
A Honda truck should have V-TEC, yo! Sit it on Daytons, put 4 sealed tens in the crew cab, and bag that thing to the pavement!
Fill that bed up w/ some DB 32’s, let everyone in next county hear ‘ya!
A few comments regarding Honda Trucks:
1) Honda NEEDS to study why some trucks sell well and others don’t. The best case study would be Santa Cruz vs Maverick. The Maverick looks more truck-like. It is compelling in that it does a lot of truck things. It’s no-non sense. It has a relatively tried and true drivetrain. You can get it with lots of useful features.
2) They need to study truck styling. Why was the first and second gen Ridgeline considered wimpy? Why did the Subaru Baja look disproportionate (look at the rear wheel placement).
Building a truck goes beyond chopping the back off an SUV; it needs to be both truck looking and useful beyond its stated capacity.
I have nothing against unibody trucks; hell, I own a Maverick. If Honda came out with anything like it, with similar features and capacities, and a real offroad trim (Trailsport, like the Passport, not the CRV), I’d be tempted.
Santa Cruz isn’t useful in any way.
I mean, it has a bed, so that’s inherently useful, but the Maverick’s Flex Bed is an excellent use of that space.
I always thought the front end of the 1st gen Ridgeline was fine (blocky, square, appropriately truck-like) while the rest of the truck was not at all what truck buyers wanted. The 2nd gen fixed a lot of bed and cab to make it look like a normal truck but then Honda inexplicably gave it the nose of the Odyssey and all truck cred went out the window again.
Couldn’t agree more. It’s not that it’s not body on frame, it’s that it’s ugly and doesn’t look “trucky”.
The good news is the Ridgeline is likely to move to the new platform in the next year, so they realistically could put the new Passport face on it like the header image and they’ll almost definitely add the new Pilot/Passport Trailsport package.
If they do that I think they’ll finally see some movement against the other mid-sizers.
That’s exactly what I want to see with the new Ridgeline. That new Passport face, or a touched up version of it.
You kept saying it was all about Vibes today, and I read absolutely nothing about a new hatchback from Pontiac. I feel cheated.
Was gonna say the best Vibes from Fremont came in the ’00s.
Oooo, nice. The Tesla connection didn’t even occur to me!
When did David Byrne turn into George Plimpton. Is Byrne going to do an Intellivision commercial next?
Holy shit is that an obscure reference!
I think David Byrne would make a fine backup quarterback for the Detroit Lions.
The book would be titled “How Did I Get Here?”
Nah. It will be for the reincarnated Vista Cruiser.
What about a Ford Maverick competition based on the CRV? Same hybrid engine, the brand reputation is there, just make it boxy, square. Add a trail package with orange accents with a small lift to compete with the Tremor package. Just dreaming here on a Friday lol
Ooh even better an HHR based platform that is a honda civic based truck. Because that too me is a midsized truck now, despite what people call it.
Yeah, a small pickup would be Fit-based.
Exactly. Stretch the wheelbase a smidgen, cut off the cargo area top, and turn it into a bed. Keep everything else the same, and you’ve got a real competitor for the hot selling Maverick, but with the Honda badge.
Why would they build in the United States? The input costs for steel, aluminum, and now copper are all going to be 50% more expensive. So excluding retaliatory tariffs from other countries, they would never be able to sell these vehicles in Canada or Mexico. The US is a big market, but the higher input costs to manufacture in the US would price out a lot of US customers as well. It seems like they should sit on their hands and see how this all plays out…..
Arguably building a small truck in Canada, with USMCA exemptions in place, would allow CETA exemptions to export from Canada to Europe – but also keep from being impacted by the random assortment of added tariffs to raw materials/parts/etc. Thus, despite the ongoing bluster, might be more stable to import into the USA (and better long-term after there’s an inevitable shift in US policy again).
So, 35% tariffs on Canada and ignoring USMCA exemptions are now on the table for August because “fentanyl.” Also jacking up tariff rates even more for everybody else.
Republicans be like: “OMG I love taxes all of a sudden”
Because tariffs affect the poors disproportionally.
They are certifiably insane. Coworker will not stop bitching about a 6 cent gas tax hike to balance the budget in Washington because Democrat governor, but not a peep on tariffs (import taxes) which are estimated to cost each household $2,300 as currently implemented in 2025.
aRt oF tHe dEaL
Sounds like my dad. He’s constantly big mad at anything a Dem does, but crickets about anything the GOP does. Even though the hit to his IRA this year means he’s probably going to keep working a few extra years when he should have been retiring this year.
I honestly can’t keep up with the noise; USMCA was still in place as of this morning when I checked.
Republicans be like: “Chaos and uncertainty are big brain business moves”
Unfortunately, I have to track this horseshit for my job, but shit is so dumb that Reuters has an email newsletter specifically to round up tariff news:
reuters.com/newsletters/reuters-tariff-watch/
Honestly, the way its playing out is how much time Trump has recently spent talking to Navarro vs other staffers, like I think the guy catches him in the hallway outside the Oval Office once in awhile and says “you know, you should really do more tariff stuff again, I have ideas” and Trump goes oh yeah, I haven’t done an insanely self destructive tariff announcement in awhile, I should do one now. Then some other cabinet members look at the effect on Wall Street or poll numbers, put Pete in charge of guarding a bumblebee in a jar for awhile, and do something to pull Trump back a little. And repeat
I don’t even think it needs to be body on frame. Slap a bed on the new Passport, keep the V6, continue to call it a Ridgeline, and watch the sales pile up. People are so goddamn mad at Toyota and GM for using four cylinders in their midsized trucks that a big, gas chugging, NA V6 would legitimately be enough for a lot of people.
The Passport looks great, and the consensus seems to be that the Passport is a great vehicle other than the fuel economy…and you know who doesn’t give a rat’s ass about fuel economy? Truck owners. If it’ll eke out 20 MPG on the highway it’ll be enough for probably 95% of them.
The current Ridgeline and Passport already share a platform along with the Pilot with shared styling elements.
For reference I average 25mpg in my 2017 Ridgeline that has the AWD system and it does all of the truck stuff that I need it to do.
Technically the latest Pilot and Passport are on the new platform while the Ridgeline is still on the old version, so it’s very likely there’s a new Ridgeline on the horizon. The styling differentiated a lot between the Pilot and Passport for this gen, so it’s possible the Ridgeline could go either direction or in a totally new styling.
I hope they go with the Passport styling – it looks pretty good as a truck in the lead image.
I worked for Honda when we were developing this platform for the MDX and Pilot, but I don’t know what the current plans are.
The MPG on the Ridgeline is shocking. I had it as a rental and was blown away by the efficiency.
Totally agree. I doubt body on frame vs unibody is as much a factor in low Ridgeline sales as just the looks. I love the Ridgeline and it would serve all my possible pickup needs, but it still doesn’t look great.
Make it look squared off like the new Passport and I think it would do much better than a badge-engineered Frontier.
What should a Honda truck be?
No.
Didn’t Suzuki try this with Nissan when they birthed the Equator?
Yes.
As did Mercedes, though I think that was a diesel.
I’m very curious about what amount of badge engineering Honda will do to this truck.
To me this seems like them throwing Nissan a bone while also helping them strengthen their street cred with the truck bros. If it fails, no harm no foul. But if it works, then they’ve broken into a market that the Ridgeline (great product) couldn’t quite crack.
Pricing will also be interesting. Usually rebadges undercut the original vehicle by a bit, but Honda’s haven’t been the thrifty option in quite some time. Assuming they price it like a Honda, the profit margins should be pretty darn good.
A BoF Honda pickup built by Nissan?
Just call it the Epilogue because that’s the last time they’re letting anyone else f*ck up their reputation.
Eh, the Nissan BOF platforms are reliable and always have been. They just get the bag rap from the CVTs of prior Nissans. Even those at this point have been remedied I believe.
The first gen Passport was an Isuzu. They rusted out pretty quickly here in the salt belt, so it’s not like this would be a first.
Maaan I’m real tempted to sell our ’11 Escape and grab a low mileage Bolt or Bolt EUV before the tax credits end. Prices are stupid low. After the 4k credit, we could get a Bolt in our area with 10,000 miles for around 13k
We have a semi-high-end used dealer here with about 30-40 Bolts from the old GM buyback/recall, I think every single one is under $15k. If I had a need for a commuter car, you can do much worse.
Certainly, especially with how absurdly cheap our electricity is, combined with how absurdly expensive our gasoline is. I went to my hometown over the 4th, gas was well over $5 a gallon for regular.
Do it, surprisingly the Chevy Bolt is one of the most reliable vehicles GM ever released in recent times, only the battery recall was the issue but that was handled pretty well.
I’ve been extremely happy with my 2nd gen Volt, a Bolt would be a nice addition to the fleet.
I’m keeping my eyes on Ioniq5 and EV6s. Bolt’s a great EV for the money, but… I need some trunk for my junk (and the dog).
The sleeper deal right now seems to be on Honda Prologues, though. Near-new for solidly under $30k
I5 has lots of good interior space packed in. Sliding rear seat (absent in the EV6) is clutch for more options.
I did this in October on a 2020 with 11k miles. 10/10 would Bolt again. Most of those only have the software update to detect the battery fault, not new batteries. Mine faulted a week after I bought it, but they replaced it for free and I got the larger battery from the refreshed models.
If I do it, I’ll probably go for one of the refreshed models.
I wish Honda would let the Honda Powersports people teach the car/SUV part of the company how to build something that can actually go off-road.
Agreed, this has always seemed like a surprising oversight/miss to me too.
I think their auto division has been achingly conservative for a long time.
The Pilot Trailsport is a sleeper, they just didn’t really expand that ethos to the other Trailsport models (ie, different gearing, real skidplates). Most are just appearance packages and A/T tires, from what I’ve seen. I get the impression they’re a little too scared to take real risks. IMHO the Trailsport models should have a normal set of tires to help with fuel economy, and sell the second set as a feature. Yes, it’ll add $1,500 to the price, but it would probably help with CAFE and initial customer impressions.
Agree the Pilot Trailsport is a sleeper. I eyed them at one point and it’s more than just a badge and some bulky junk.
The Passport Trailsports have actual hardware as well. Skid plates, trail cams, etc. I imagine they can handle probably 98% of what anyone will throw at them. There’s some DURR IT’S NOT AS COMPETENT AS A 4RUNNER bellyaching but the 4Runner is a legend in the off roading world for a reason.
But that fuel economy…fucking yikes. 18/23/20 for a goddamn crossover in 2025 is just unacceptable. The freaking 4Runner and 4 popper Bronco do better than that and they’re body on frame. I think it’s one of the reasons why the Passports around me in DC aren’t selling. They’re going for a mix of the BOF off roader audience and the Subaru crowd but that mileage is a non starter for the Subaru demographic.
I worked in the group that was developing the real Trailsport trim at Honda before the Pilot came out. The difference is the new platform – the new Pilot and Passport have serious off-road upgrades to dramatically increase capability, and they went through serious off-road testing to prove it.
The last gen Passport Trailsport was basically just tires and stickers to try to get some sales alongside the Pilot Trailsport, but once the Passport moved to the new platform it became a serious upgrade package. I fully expect once they update the Ridgeline to the new platform it will also have a Trailsport package with the same legitimate upgrades applied.
Awesome! I was hoping they’d apply the same treatment to the CR-V, but it looks a lot more like the last-gen Passport in that it’s mostly cosmetic. I get it from a marketing POV, but I don’t think it’s winning them any new customers.
I heard the “large hybrid” (V6 models) is still in development but getting close to prime time. The sooner the better!
Yes, the CRV is a totally different platform so they’ll likely never apply the effort required for real skid plates, better wheels and tires, improved AWD, etc. It will probably always be basically a cosmetic package.
I have no additional info on large hybrid status. It’s more of a challenge for Honda’s system than Toyota’s since they use a clutch to connect the engine and don’t have the variability and robustness of the planetary like Toyota. Honda’s existing hybrid system is great for cars, but the concept can’t be stretched to the required towing capacities for the big models.
How to the overcome the lack of a low range transfer case?
There’s a bit of clutch pack trickery, but yes, that is one significant limitation to how far you can really go with one of these. That said, the AWD system is very capable and I’ve personally seen the Pilot Trailsport claw its way out of some impressive situations.
Yeah, that’s fair — our Odyssey (same platform as all of them) struggles to break 18mpg in mixed driving in the summer, maybe 20 in the winter. At best we see 25mpg highway, or sometimes 28 if you don’t stop at all, drive only on flat roads, keep it below 70mph, and use cylinder deactivation.
On the plus side, the reliability has been stellar and I remind myself that one repair buys a lot of fuel.
Still, no lineup has been more overdue for a hybrid than everything powered by their 3.5 V6. They so common, and so thirsty. Collectively it would be a huge improvement.
There’s apparently one in the works that will debut in 2026. I’d buy a Passport tomorrow if it was a hybrid, but unfortunately I doubt it’ll get the option. I fear it’ll be another Hyundai Santa Cruz situation where they prioritize the hybrids for the family haulers and leave the specialty vehicle with the thirsty ICE only.
The lack of a low range transfer case seems to be a big deal. I wonder how they over come that with engineering.
Hybrid electric motor could help. E-torque for the win.
We could do worse than having a rebadged Frontier at Honda dealers. Frontier is a decent truck at a decent price.
I assume you’d pay 20% more at a Honda dealer based on the necessary OE markup and the Honda dealer approach. Maybe you get that back on resale someday, maybe not.
The Honda Truck should just be a Ridgeline Trailsport with a hybrid to solve the perennial fuel economy issues and possible add some on-demand torque for heavy work. They could even play some fun games with the 1-speed tranny to mimic specific needs like towing or crawling.
I’d also recommend some beefing up of the rear suspension, which would remove some of that carlike handling, but could help with towing capacity a bit. They just need a few more “on paper” stats to convince the traditional Truck People.
I must be in the minority in the car community because I don’t think a Honda BoF truck makes any sense, and especially one with Nissan running gear. The Ridgeline sells decently well, and the people who own them seem to love them. If you build a BoF, you’re going to be playing in a crowded market with fiercely loyal buyers. You may be able to build something that competes with a Tacoma, but who’s going to buy it?
I think Honda would be better served just sticking to what they know – redo the Ridgeline for a 3rd generation, ideally with a hybrid option.
Every time there are rumors of a hybrid Ridgeline, I get excited. I would buy one pretty much immediately. Especially if it were PHEV/EREV, but I think I would settle for traditional hybrid.
A Honda truck should be a Tacoma Fighter, but what the old Tacoma was, basic NA V6, mid-size body on frame with rugged yet understated styling. Sure the new Tacoma is doing well, but there is a large enough contingent of previous gen Tacoma owners that I would wager would jump into a Honda truck if it matches the ethos of the prior gen Taco 1-for-1 given they aren’t jazzed by the new one.
You basically described the Frontier, so that with a Honda badge might actually work.
A Ridgeline is large? Not by American standards. It’s 2 feet shorter than the most common 1/2 ton size, and smaller yet compared to HD trucks.
Also, based on this quote from the Nikkei piece, it seems more likely that the opposite would be the case: that Honda would sell something like the Titan rather than a smaller truck.
In the U.S., Honda only offers compact pickup trucks. Partnering with Nissan could help the company reach consumers who are seeking full-size pickups.
I was so confused about this. Glad you saw it too.
I also thought it was strange Nikkei referred to the Ridgeline as compact. It may not be full size but it’s not compact.
Of course, in the same Nikkei quote it is stated that the Frontier is designed for commercial use so perhaps there is a problem with the translation.
What should a Honda truck be? An Acty
With a ~700lb/325kg payload capacity of an Acty – it would work to carry a motorcycle to the track.
It, and the Sambar, are a car I wish were exported so that I could buy one new.