Honda is looking at exiting their younger and also some older customers with new vehicles that will come with more drive dynamics and excitement which have slowly been missing in past products. Hybrids will no longer be boring. This next-generation plug-in hybrid offers, according to Honda, a comfortable and enjoyable driving experience. It comes with a dual-mode drivetrain for ‘spirited’ or ‘relaxed’ driving. Honda AC-X is one of them. The theme of the car is “Dual Solid Motion”; to further quote the press materials, “The upper portion of the body has a look of boundless energy and the lower portion has a look of dependable stability.” The two sections intersect along the character line that runs down the side of the car.
The AC-X—its name is short for Advanced Cruiser eXperience—carries the duality theme throughout. The powertrain is of the plug-in hybrid variety, with a 161-hp electric motor that can propel the car up to 62 mph and as far as 31 miles in pure-EV mode (although probably not at the same time) coupled to a 127-hp, 1.6-liter internal-combustion engine.
There are two driving modes. The first, Engine-Drive Mode, puts the driver in control of the two “Twin-Lever Steering” sticks for maximum involvement. As in the EV-Ster sports car concept, the levers are operated in a push-pull fashion to steer the car left and right. If that gets too tiring, the driver can switch to Automatic-Drive Mode, where the car goes into autopilot and the steering levers retract into the dashboard.
The AC-X’s active aerodynamics lower the front bumper and side skirts and adjust the rear diffuser for reduced drag at high speeds. In this configuration, the coefficient of drag is a slippery 0.21. The wheels also feature stationary, non-rotating covers to further help cheat the wind.
