No word, yet, on new coupe’s price and launch timing is simply “in 2026.”

INDICATION of how much Kiwi interest exists for the new rendition of a famous performance-themed nameplate from Honda is about to be gauged.

Honda New Zealand today said it will accept registrations of potential buy-in for the new Prelude, a car that is courting controversy overseas.

The pre-order book opening is regardless that it is still tight-lipped about the specification and the price and cannot yet say when the new coupe will launch, beyond indicating arrival is in 2026.

The call for interest also comes as the new generation car, which Honda NZ is calling a speciality sports model, is undergoing international media assessment that has been less than universally kind.

While many publications are keen on the car’s dynamic feel, they have also suggested it will be cramped for some and have questioned if it has enough of the pep that buyers might desire.

One leading publication in North America, a key Honda market, has expressed confusion about what the brand is hoping to achieve with a ‘sports’ model that is less powerful and slower than the previous version.

Prelude originally launched in its first generation some 46 years, ago, but the last one went out of production at the end of 2001. So it will be a full 25 years later that the new one finally goes on sale.

The new car takes its brakes and some suspension components from the sportiest product Honda NZ has had here in recent times, the Civic Type R hatch.

But is heading in a fresh engineering direction by going hybrid, with a 2.0-litre petrol engine paired with two electric motors.

Combined, the system delivers 135kW/315Nm – the same as it delivers in the Civic e:HEV from which the drivetrain was plucked. Power is sent to the front wheels via an electronic continuously variable transmission (e-CVT).

That has a function which can simulate the engine noises and gear changes a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, complete with a power 'cut' when changing cogs.

Critics have noted that with a cited 0-100kmh time seven seconds, it is almost 1.5s slower than the last Prelude, itself not considered an overtly sporty car during its time of sale.

Last month Honda senior management conceded they did not set out to build another Prelude from the project’s inception.

Instead, after some development work, the brand decided to use the moniker because it fit that nameplate’s character.

Honda Motor Company director, president, and representative executive officer Toshihoro Mibe said the project was designed to bring another sporty model to market.

Honda NZ says the car will place as “a modern hybrid specialty sports model that brings together dynamic performance, contemporary design, and the ‘joy of manoeuvring’ that has defined the model for generations.”