“It’s what youth told us was missing,” noted Dick Colliver, executive vice president of Honda. The EX and SC will have body-colored panels–without black bumpers and rockers. Front and rear bumpers, however, are now black, along with the rocker panels and wide trim along both sides of the roof.īut the EX-P signaled a change was coming.Īt the New York Auto Show this month, Honda unveiled the Element SC prototype, a peek at the 2007 SC production model that replaces the EX-P this fall.įor 2007, only the base Element LX will retain the gray plastic. Honda considers it vital to get youth into its family, so for 2006 it added the Element EX-P, which gives those gunmetal panels a coat of body-color paint. But the average buyer is 41, meaning a number of 50- and 60-somethings have made it their vehicle of choice as well. Other novelties included swing-back, or suicide, rear doors, and rear seats that folded along the walls rather than folding flat or flipping forward for more cargo room.īecause youth tend to be more outdoorsy than the rest of the people on this planet, the interior was covered with washable rubber mats rather than carpeting.Īnd you got the choice of front- or all-wheel-drive.Įlement has sold well–a steady 50,000 to 60,000 units annually. It took a novel approach to design–look different than anything else on the road with front and rear bumpers, lower fenders and rocker panels consisting of gray plastic rather than body colored sheet-metal–to cater to youth. Honda learned a valuable lesson when it created the Element in 2003 to attract young buyers: You can ask, but you can’t tell, youth what it wants to buy.Įlement arrived as a compact sport-utility, though crossover seems more apropos for its SUV function in the look of a boxy wagon.
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