Honda’s hybrid revolution: the groundbreaking V-6 that will power your next ride

Honda just unveiled its next V-6. And the hybrid system to which it will be linked. This is critical to understand. By 2027, Honda will, like Toyota, be a company that largely sells hybrid powertrains. These include future smaller cars, like the upcoming Prelude, and very likely (as TopSpeed’s William Clavey just experienced) the next Civic. That almost certainly means the Accord will only be a hybrid, to be better positioned against the full-hybrid Camry.

And, as Honda describes it, going hybrid will be a very good thing. Naturally, there are major benefits in terms of fuel savings. Vehicles like the Passport, Ridgeline and Pilot are not currently achieving exceptional mileage (averaging a combined 20ish MPG). That’s pretty mediocre, and a problem not just for Honda, but for all makers of larger five- and seven-passenger SUVs.

The other big reason for the new hybrid V-6? Performance. Honda’s current hybridization has an Achilles heel that the new system finally addresses—and a trick transmission that may finally cure some of the less “special” aspects of today’s automatics.

Why the V-6 Matters

Our friends at CarBuzz essentially confirmed this (without an official saying it so precisely) that the new V-6 will have a smaller displacement of three liters, compared to the current 3.5-liter V-6 found in Honda’s Ridgeline, Passport and Pilot. But Honda says they will deliver better performance. Specifically:

[Improvement of] The full throttle acceleration performance of the finished vehicle by more than 10% compared to the ICE models currently sold in the same segment, by increasing the efficiency of the engine and each drive unit and by taking advantage of the battery support. —Honda

Making a better hybrid

While Honda has not yet revealed the performance of this new V-6 – and has emphasized several times to our staff at their Japanese test site that these engines are in the early stages of testing and won’t go into production for another year – they have detailed how their newfangled hybridization will be better.

Namely that their hybrids are currently designed to take more action at highway speeds, but that the new system will also be more integral at lower speeds, especially when accelerating hard from a stop and around town, on steep terrain and when towing or off-roading. Honda says this new hybrid motor and battery are 30 percent more efficient and, crucially, more responsive in a wide range of driving conditions.

A new platform

Honda, like every automaker, is fighting to reduce the weight, complexity and number of parts of its platforms so they can respond more quickly to changes in the market. If gasoline prices suddenly rise and demand for electric cars increases, they, like all car manufacturers, will need modular packaging. Here they showed off what they call a new mid-range hybrid platform, which Honda claims will save almost £200 on what they currently sell. Honda says this is another way they will improve fuel economy, but just as importantly they claim they have made great leaps in improving vehicle stiffness.

And a stiffer chassis in turn allows for further lightweighting, because the suspension you attach to it doesn’t have to be as robust to tame the same forces.

CVT + Hybrid = Better chassis control

Honda wants to apply a different technology to their new hybrid powertrain: the S+ Shift system. As we will first see with their smaller cars like the Prelude, S+ Shift works in conjunction with the hybridization and CVT transmission. Because CVTs are infinitely programmable, Honda can also make the transmissions of their larger machines, such as a Passport or Pilot, automatically downshift for superior cornering control.

Off- or on-road operation

A torque converter automatic can be programmed to kick-down at a certain throttle position, or using ramp logic (a fancy way of saying that automakers use grade to predict when you’re going uphill or downhill), but a CVT can use yaw, deceleration, and many other inputs to predict when engine braking would provide a big driving advantage. Subaru already does this for their X-MODE AWD, to add another parameter that provides better grip in deep mud and snow.

What we would like to know

Read William Clavey’s piece on the experience of driving Honda’s test mule sedan in Japan. The car he tested was a naturally aspirated hybrid 2.0-liter four-cylinder. But for larger vehicles with the V-6, Clavey also confirmed that Honda not only plans to have a front-engine plus electric motor, but could also add a third electric motor on the rear axle to enable AWD. This is very similar to what Toyota currently offers in their larger SUVs.

Naturally, we’re very curious to see if the 2.0-liter-four or the V-6 will be turbocharged in some applications. Even if, as Clavey’s reporting suggests, Honda will abandon manual transmissions, more power is often the solution for #noboringcars.

TopSpeed’s opinion

Hybridization is inevitable. While the current White House is deregulating climate regulations, the rest of the world is tightening them. Even Honda, which relies overwhelmingly on North American consumers, sells globally. If you think about small engines (motorcycles and side-by-side engines, as well as generators), Honda is one of the largest engine manufacturers in the world. They are also formidable innovators. So we’re not even remotely surprised that they think they can outdo rivals at Toyota to make the best hybrids in the world. Which basically means consumers win. And besides, if this means they improve CVTs and make them more fun, especially for SUVs and 4X4 conditions? Well, that’s even better.