Honda, a brand that's associated with reliability and dependability, has had a rough relationship with electric cars. Its most recent foray into American-market EVs involved a partnership with General Motors, which resulted in the Honda Prologue and the Acura ZDX crossovers. 

The Prologue has had decent success so far, but the ZDX bowed out when EV tax credits vanished. Yet Honda wants more—and wants to do things its way. So it's investing billions of dollars into a brand-new, bespoke electric architecture that will underpin several new EVs by the end of the decade. It's called the 0 Series, and it may be the most important new vehicle platform of Honda's modern era. 

One of the first cars to wear the 0 Series badge is simply called the Saloon. It's a futuristic, razor-like sedan proudly positioned as the brand's flagship, which will take on some of the most high-tech EVs out there.

So let's see what Honda has in store.

Honda 0 Series: An All-New Platform

The Saloon, which debuted as a concept car in 2024, will ride on Honda's new in-house platform. It's a vertically integrated architecture that the automaker can have full control over, allowing it to make quick changes to the hardware and patch software issues with over-the-air updates without having to wait on third-party suppliers and developers.

Honda has gone to great lengths to integrate light materials into the cars' construction, and is betting big on megacasting technology and a new, AI-enabled software suite that can integrate lidar sensors and ultimately offer Level 3 "eyes-off" driving capabilities.

Honda 0 Series Saloon: Design

There's no way around this: the Honda 0 Series Saloon is a head-turner. The four-door EV is low to the ground, thanks to the slim battery pack nestled inside the floor, and looks like something out of a futuristic cartoon.

It's a razor-shaped sedan that's bound to get everybody's attention once it hits the streets, but there's no guarantee that Honda will stay true to the concept's looks once the production version rolls off the assembly line.