Among enthusiasts, one of Honda’s greatest strengths is the quality of its manual transmissions. With the transition to electric vehicles that inherently would never require such a thing, the company may not be giving that reputation up just yet. At an event last week showing off tech pertaining to Honda’s future “0 Series” of EVs, an engineer confirmed to The Drive that it has built a synthetic manual transmission—clutch pedal and all—for EVs.
This marks a bit of a course correction on the matter since Honda’s CEO previously expressed doubt over a simulated manual back in 2022. “I’m not sure if we can replace the manual transmission,” said Honda boss Toshihiro Mibe, per Car & Driver. A Honda EV manual, however, aligns with what electrification head Shinji Aoyama said as part of that same discussion: “Artificially, we can do it. Mechanically, it is not easy,” Aoyama previously said via C&D. He also alluded that the system would be “like an extension of active sound control.”
Ergo, Honda’s synthetic manual gearbox is developed to accompany a Hyundai Ioniq 5 N-style set of fake engine noises and gear ratios. At an event in Honda’s Tochigi proving grounds in Japan, I experienced a Honda e Digital UX Concept with a system that can make it sound (on the inside, at least) like an S2000, either generation of NSX, Civic Type R, or even a HondaJet. A CRX and Honda F1 car were locked behind a would-be paywall.
When asked whether this synthetic manual would be able to emulate the legendarily distinct shifter feel of, say, that S2000, the Honda engineer said no—although, that might be asking too much.
Honda isn’t the only automaker to have dabbled in a manual for EVs as Toyota has worked on one as well.
In any case, just because Honda has built a manual 0 Series EV doesn’t mean it’ll sell a manual 0 Series EV. Whether or not this will actually come to market remains a mystery. But as long as it’s convincing (and defeatable for stop-and-go traffic situations), I don’t see why a future performance-oriented electric Honda shouldn’t have this.
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