The third-generation Honda HR-V was unveiled last year, but that was the version for everyone outside of North America. Here, Honda plans an HR-V with slightly different styling and a later release date, because we’re special. Honda released teaser images of the 2023 HR-V on Thursday.
Honda did not release much else, but it did say that the 2023 HR-V “will launch in North America this year.” It will likely be hybrid, or at least have that as an option, just like the global HR-V. We don’t know the price or other specs, however.
The styling for North America is more overland-y than the global HR-V. This is a car for people who snowboard — or at least people who like to think of themselves as snowboarders. Going more rugged is, generally, what Honda wants you to think about its SUVs and crossovers these days, in the age of the new Ford Bronco. Which is fine, but I sometimes think that car designers are convinced that every car buyer lives in Southern California and spends weekends in the mountains. If only we all could be so lucky.
Honda sold 137,090 HR-Vs in the U.S. last year in any event, a 63 per cent year-over-year increase from 2020, which I’m still trying to wrap my head around.
Versions of the car date to the late ‘90s, but it wasn’t sold in the U.S. until 2015, as a 2016 model, after debuting in LA in 2014 — an event so exciting that we didn’t even bother to blog it. The HR-V’s present-day appeal is mainly its price, as it starts at $US21,870 (A$29,964), which is cheaper than a Civic. The HR-V is also, presumably, meant for those that miss the Honda Fit, which Honda doesn’t sell here anymore, because Honda says they’re more interested in “making money.” This is what we deserve, instead.