The boxy Honda Super-N wants to bring kei-car joy (and a fake gearbox) to Britain

It’s small. It’s light. It’s shamelessly designed to be affordable. The Honda Super-N is everything we’re told modern cars can’t be. But Honda is rebelling – by bringing the joy of right-sized kei cars to the UK.

Alright, let’s calm down. The Super-N is strictly only a prototype for now. Not a concept car: it has mirrors, wipers and seatbelts. It’s a real car. And we know it drives in real life, because Honda brought a disguised test bed Super-N along to the Goodwood Festival of Speed back in the summer.

Now we get to see what it looks like, while Honda does the maths on what it’ll cost and when it’ll go on sale.

How it looks is, well, boxy. In the hugely successful kei car tradition (which sees Japan’s urban roads festooned with slab-sided, small-wheeled cars powered by engines no bigger than 660cc) the Super N is more straight-edged than a block of cheddar cheese and the wheels are the dimensions of a Babybel. But just look at those pumped out flared wheelarches! When this thing grows up, it wants to get stanced by Liberty Walk.

The pugnacious ickle face has echoes of the Honda e about it, though hopefully the Super-N will sell in greater numbers than the three and a half managed by the gorgeously designed but range- and price-hobbled e. The touchscreen doesn’t dominate the scenery.

There’s physical buttons for heating and air-con, and oh, what’s that behind the steering wheel? Paddleshifters? To enjoy those, you’ll need to activate ‘Boost Mode’. Honda explains "not only does this increase vehicle output to maximise performance, but it also simulates a multi-gear shift with Active Sound Control". We’re getting pocket-sized Hyundai Ioniq 5 N vibes, people.

“Coupled with dedicated interior displays and coordinated lighting sequences, this ensures a sense of excitement and enhanced driving engagement that is unique to a vehicle of this size,” Honda confidently claims. And it might be right. Though the teeny EV scene is – finally – blossoming with fun cars, the Renault 5, its Alpine cousin and the inbound Volkswagen ID.1 don’t have simulated gearboxes.

The Super-N will be here in 2026, once Honda has told us important unknowns like what it weighs, how much power it develops, the range of the batteries and crucially, what it costs to buy.

And you might expect it’s what all of Europe has been crying out for: a cute, chuckable EV that’s cheap as chips to buy (hopefully). But because the rest of Europe likes the steering wheel on the left (which is wrong) Honda says it only has plans to sell the car in the UK, Japan and Asia.

Officially, Honda says it “does not have any immediate plans to introduce the Super-N Prototype to any further European markets”. However, it also admits “the success of this new model will help to understand the consumer appetite for any future small EVs within the region".

So no pressure, but if lots of us buy this, it might herald a new era of entry level fun cars. Roll on the numbers please Honda. And while you’re at it, wouldn’t a ‘Type R’ badge look natty on the bootlid?