Honda’s little giant success number completely new

Those who visit AutoWeek every day will undoubtedly know that we like to peek across the border to catch a glimpse of what is happening there. What takes place far outside Europe often has little or no relevance to the Dutch car buyer, but we still try to fish out the pearls that car enthusiasts who are not only enthusiastic about horsepower bangers and Nm monsters can still fish out. Although, pearls. Gems, there are too. In this article we discuss one of them: the Honda N-Box. And it is important for Honda too!

Honda N Box

Like practically every Japanese car manufacturer, Honda sells a range of Kei cars in its home country. Even by European standards, these are tiny but nowadays often cleverly arranged city rascals that are a maximum of 3.4 meters long and that are not only allowed to have a maximum 660 cc power source, but also only a maximum of 64 hp. Honda also has quite a few, but the N-Box is by far the most popular. And not only at brand level, also throughout Japan. With the exception of the introduction year 2011, 2012 and 2014, the N-Box is the most popular kei-car in Japan every year. From 2017 to 2020 and last year, it was also the best-selling car in a general sense. Every year roughly 200,000 units are sold, with the result that more than 2.4 million copies have already been sold. The second generation N-Box has been running since 2017, went under the knife in 2020 and is now being succeeded by a completely new one.

The blower of the bunch: the N-Box Custom.

Completely new? Yes really! Although the N-Box resembles its predecessor from a distance, it is really completely new. The shape of the rear screens points to this, among other things, there is a new kink in it and they connect differently to the now new rear lights. Such a part is not just renewed during a regular facelift. Just like the previous N-Box, the new model is also available as an N-Box and as an N-Box Custom, which is only a little less open-minded. Fun fact: the round LED lights of the N-Box are supposed to resemble ‘human eyes’.

Honda N Box

The N-Box gets a completely new interior, complete with a digital set of instruments and a homely-looking ‘tray’ in which the infotainment screen seems to be set. Honda is not yet sharing technical data, but you can assume that the new N-Box will also receive 658 cc small three-cylinder engines with and without a turbo and thus generate 58 to 64 hp. Two sliding doors? From the party. Very practical.

As mentioned, the N-Box is not the only kei car that Honda offers in Japan. It sells, among other things, the N-WGN, the N-VAN, the N-One and previously the S660 and – really – a more dynamic N-Box: the N-Box Slash.