Honda Super-One appears at GIIAS – Indonesia gets 100 units this year; price reveal, open for booking on Aug 5

All eyes are on the Honda Super-One at Honda’s Gaikindo Indonesia International Auto Show (GIIAS) 2026 booth. The lovable little EV is not quite ready for launch in the republic, but we know that Indonesia has been allocated 100 units this year and the price will be revealed on August 5, when order books open.

Based on the N-One e: kei car, the Super-One sticks to the category’s mandated 64 PS (47 kW) and 162 Nm of torque, but press the Boost Mode button on the steering wheel and you’ll unlock the car’s full 95 PS (70 kW), along with the use of shift paddles that control a simulated seven-speed gearbox.

A 29.6-kWh battery provides range of 205 km on the WLTP cycle, or 275 km on the more lenient Japanese cycle, which is 20 km less than the N-One e: The Super-One should follow its donor car’s 50 kW max DC charging rate, taking SoC from 20% to 80% in 30 minutes. AC charging maxes out at 6 kW. By the way, the Super-One is a global car and export models get a standard CCS2 port on the car’s nose instead of the Japan market’s two charging port doors.

The biggest difference between the Super-One and other small EVs is the Honda’s driving appeal. It weighs just 1,090 kg, which is super light for an EV – for context, that’s 140 kg lighter than the base Proton eMas 5 Prime. Honda says that it tuned the Super-One’s suspension with extensive testing on various road surfaces in Japan and the UK.

The Super-One also looks a lot like the spiritual successor to the City Turbo II from the 80s, thanks to box-flared fenders for a bulldog-like, wheel-at-each-corner stance. Those wheels are relatively large 15-inch items finished in gloss black.

Functional ducting at the front and rear bumper corners help guide air around the wheels and out of the rear bumper. The latter preventing a so-called ‘parachute’ effect that creates lift. Meanwhile, the front air intake gains a heat sink-inspired finned motif, as do the rims. The hero colour you see here is called Boost Violet Pearl.

Some sporty touches have been added to the N-One e:’s cabin, and you can’t miss the black and white sports seats with an asymmetric blue stripe that pays homage to the City Turbo II. The seats do feel ‘sporty’, especially the side bolsters of the seat base that pinches you in.

The 7.0-inch instrument display incorporates a unique three gauge display for battery temperature, power and “revs” when the Boost button is pressed. That purple button also turns the ambient lighting from blue to purple.

Surprisingly, there’s an eight-speaker Bose sound system with a subwoofer under the boot floor. Speaking of the boot, wouldn’t it be perfect if Honda created an Motocompo-style e-scooter that fits in back there?

It’s a desirable little car, but unfortunately, we won’t be getting the Super-One in Malaysia. The sad thing for car enthusiasts (who would’ve been the target market for this niche model, as it’s ‘not great value’ compared to bigger Chinese EVs) is that Honda Malaysia had solid plans for the Super-One, only for the proverbial rug to be pulled from under it at the last minute.

We are of course talking about MITI’s new regulations for CBU EVs that effectively sets a RM300,000 minimum price for imported EVs. No issues for high-end EVs that would’ve been priced above RM300k anyway, but the hurdle is fatal for models with RRPs between RM100k to RM200k. The only way around it is to assemble locally, which makes no business sense for a niche toy like this.

I was seriously considering one. Oh well…

GALLERY: Honda Super-One at GIIAS 2026

GALLERY: Honda Super-One official images