Frankfurt motor show: Honda E finally makes it into production

One gets the feeling that Volkswagen might just be trolling its rivals at Honda, ever so slightly. Honda has just revealed a modern, expensive, small electric car — the Honda E — that can be driven for around 200km on one charge of its batteries. Meanwhile, VW has just revealed an expensive, small car that can be driven for around 200km on one charge of its batteries. But it’s not modern at all — instead, it’s one of the most iconic cars of all time. The Beetle has gone electric.

Honda has announced prices for the Pikachu-like Honda e at Frankfurt, staring €29,470 in Germany. That means it might just sneak under the €30,000 barrier here after grants, but we won’t know for a bit yet – Honda Ireland confirmed to The Irish Times that the e won’t arrive here until 2021.