If you’re over a certain age, a parking lot filled with Honda Prelude, Acura Integra, and Ford Bronco models feels just about right. Around late 2025, the world will start to make sense again. OK, we can’t promise that. But the parking lot may look right.
The Integra and the Bronco have been back for a while. Late next year, the Prelude will return to join them.
Today, Honda announced the return of its only missing icon. Even Honda knows how people view Honda. “The first three products in the Honda lineup in the 1970s were Civic, Accord, and Prelude, and soon all three will be back together again in our passenger car lineup,” says Jessika Laudermilk, assistant vice president of Honda Auto Sales.
The Original
If you’re under a certain age, this requires a little explanation: Honda sold a 2-door sports car called the Prelude from 1978 until 2001. Over five generations, the company built it by adapting the Accord platform into a sportier car.
Prelude generations helped introduce new technologies to Americans. It was one of the first mainstream cars that used standard power steering, and it brought Honda’s famed VTEC line of engines to American soil. The Prelude was often a styling masterpiece, managing to look aggressive yet still bear obvious connections to Honda’s staid family profile.
A Modern Hybrid Sport Coupe
The sixth-generation Prelude will arrive as a hybrid only. That’s nearly all Honda has let slip about the car.
The company promises that “Prelude will advance the ‘joy of driving’ into the electrified future with Honda’s award-winning 2-motor hybrid powertrain.” But it says nothing about the power those two motors will provide. It says nothing about the gasoline engine they’ll pair with, either.
The company does reveal that it will have an “innovative Honda S+ Shift feature designed to enhance the driving experience,” but doesn’t explain what that is. A photo sent to the press shows an S+ shift button above a drive mode selector.
We expect to know more soon. Honda is in the habit of steadily dripping out information about future cars to keep the news flowing.
Designers have clearly read the notes the original Prelude’s designers left behind. The 2026 version doesn’t look like an update on the final Prelude from 2001. It looks like a sportier cousin to today’s Honda sedans. A sculpted roofline blending into a fastback rear makes its sporting intentions clear. But the stance is Civic-like.
Designers even brought back the script Prelude font of early 1990s models for the trunk lid.
That fits the design brief for a Prelude, even if we would have loved a longer hood to match the Prelude cars of memory.
However, we should note that the photos provided to the press today are labeled “Prelude Concept,” so design changes are still possible before we see a finished car for sale.
We don’t expect heavy changes, though. Honda showed off this car as a concept a little over a year ago, not revealing that it was destined for production. It seems unchanged since then.
That finished car will come, Honda says, “late next year.”
