Honda goes NUTs for future micro-car

Welcome please the, ahem, Neo Urban Transport

Leccy Tech Honda has whipped the dust covers of its vision of the small, urban coupé of tomorrow at the LA Auto Show.

The Personal Neo Urban Transport - or P-NUT - seats three with the driver amidships and fits within the diminutive footprint of a micro-car.

Honda's P-NUT: US notion of a micro-car

Or rather within the American idea of a micro-car, because the P-NUT is the brainchild of Honda's California R&D office and at 3.4m long 1.75m by 1.439m tall, the P-NUT is actually rather too wide to qualify as a true Japanese keijidosha micro-car.

The rear engine bay has been designed to accommodate a wide variety of potential power trains, including a small internal combustion engine, a hybrid system, or a battery-electric drive train.

As is the vogue with the current crop of tiny leccy concept cars, the P-NUT does without pedals leaving the driver to control the vehicle using a steering yoke. The dashboard is also dispensed with, all information being relaid either via a head-up display or a narrow OLED strip above the steering column.

Apparently, the rear seats fold up and away when not in use, allowing for a usable amount of interior luggage space when travelling one-up.

The P-NUT is just a design study at the moment so don't expect to see one on the road any time soon. ®

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