Remember the wave of ’80s nostalgia that tore through the world a few years back? The one that gave us “Stranger Things,” a surge in synthwave, and the revived Lamborghini Countach? That wave is finally cresting, giving way to the Y2K revival, and that puts Honda’s 0 Saloon concept in a tough spot.
The 0 Saloon is, indisputably, a very cool car. Honda intends it to be the halo vehicle of its new EV push, both more expensive and more replete with tech than its 0 SUV sibling. It’s a sleek, low four-door with angular styling and some of the coolest taillights ever fitted to a near-production concept. Its name sounds like a location where you’d get challenged to pistols at high noon. It’s cool
Unfortunately for the 0 Saloon, it’s also a sleek, low four-door with angular styling. Worse still, this year’s revised concept is this bright not-quite-pure-white shade — an ‘80s supercar color if ever I’ve seen one. It’s a well-designed vehicle, but it seems designed to evoke nostalgia for a time period that we’re all getting tired of remembering.
I can’t be the only one, right? It seems the world has moved on from its ’80s obsession, and this sort of Giugiaro style is once again a relic of a bygone era. Honda’s Vision N 74 remains cool, but that’s a highly modernized take on the formula. It’s the ’80s through the lens of Khyzyl Saleem.
Of course, my zillennial cusp opinion likely isn’t really the one that matters. I don’t have halo car money, and I never will. Maybe Honda’s real target here is someone like my dad, a man who has dressed as Sonny Crockett for at least one Halloween — someone with genuine ’80s nostalgia, who can appreciate a coke-white wedge that’ll never cost a dime at a gas station. But does that buyer want Level 3 autonomy? Do they want a car that earns its halo status with novel tech? I guess we’ll find out.
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