Honda says current Prologue owners will continue receiving service, parts and warranty support through its dealer network, so the cancellation does not leave customers without factory backing.
However, anyone hoping for a redesigned second-generation Prologue should not hold his or her breath. Honda has announced no replacement, meaning the automaker is expected to enter 2027 without a Honda-branded battery-electric vehicle in its U.S. lineup.
The Prologue debuted for the 2024 model year as a temporary bridge between Honda’s gasoline and hybrid vehicles and the company’s planned future generation of internally developed EVs.
It was engineered through a partnership with General Motors, built at GM’s Ramos Arizpe plant in Mexico and based on GM’s electric-vehicle architecture. The Prologue is closely related mechanically to the Chevrolet Blazer EV, while the now-discontinued Acura ZDX was another product of the Honda-GM arrangement.
Sales were respectable by EV standards, but they never approached Honda’s original expectations. In 2021, Honda said it was targeting annual U.S. Prologue sales of 70,000 vehicles once the SUV reached the market.
Instead, Honda sold 33,017 Prologues in 2024 and 39,194 during its first full calendar year in 2025. Sales dropped to 8,407 during the first six months of 2026, a 49% decline from the same period a year earlier. That brings total U.S. sales through June 2026 to 80,618 vehicles.
The decline followed the September 2025 expiration of the federal tax credit that had provided qualifying EV buyers with as much as $7,500. Honda has also acknowledged that U.S. electric-vehicle growth has slowed as government incentives and emissions policies have changed. While the Prologue remained competitive on paper, offering an EPA-estimated range of as much as 308 miles for 2026, the market around it was moving in the wrong direction.
The Prologue cancellation is part of a much larger retreat from Honda’s previous electric-vehicle plans. In March, Honda canceled development and market launches for three EVs intended for North American production: the Honda 0 SUV, Honda 0 Saloon and Acura RSX.
Those vehicles were supposed to be built using Honda’s own electric platform at the company’s manufacturing operations in Ohio. Honda said launching the three models in a market where EV demand was declining significantly could have produced additional long-term losses.
Honda is not abandoning electrification entirely, but its immediate U.S. priority is clearly shifting toward hybrids. During a May business briefing, Honda said it will move more development and manufacturing resources into hybrid vehicles, beginning with a new generation of hybrid models in 2027.
The company plans to introduce 15 next-generation hybrids globally by the end of its fiscal year in March 2030, with much of that activity centered in North America. Honda also intends to use excess capacity at its Ohio plants for gasoline and hybrid production and eventually make every Honda auto plant in North America capable of building hybrids.
The Prologue was supposed to be the opening chapter of Honda’s electric future. Instead, it became a brief introduction followed by a sudden change in the story. For now, Honda appears to have concluded that customers are far more interested in hybrids than they are in another expensive battery-powered SUV—and Honda is adjusting before the losses become even harder to recharge.
Jerry Reynolds is the host of The Car Pro Show, president of the Car Pro Radio Network, and is heard locally on WBAP and KRLD. A former Ford dealer, he now helps consumers navigate car buying and ownership. Read more at CarPro.com
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