Here’s Max Verstappen ‘Enjoying’ The Honda 0 SUV

What you see here are some pictures of an upcoming electric crossover. That wouldn’t be very interesting, but for two things: the crossover in question is a prototype of the upcoming Honda 0 SUV, and the person driving it is quadruple Formula 1 World Champion Max Verstappen.

So, the car. We’ve seen it before, actually shorn of the camouflage it wears here, but we have to assume the fact that Honda’s disguised this one means it’s a little closer to production spec than the prototype we saw at the beginning of this year.

It’s the first car of the manufacturer’s new 0 Series range of EVs, which it promises this time is really, definitely, absolutely going to spearhead its electric revolution. It’s set to get a swishy new operating system named after Honda’s sadly-deceased staircase-fearing robot, Asimo, and it apparently embodies the company’s new approach with its 0 Series EVs, which it calls ‘Thin, Light and Wise’. It’s set to arrive in production form in 2026.

All very worthy, but we’re still a bit more fascinated by how downright weird the 0 SUV looks. It’s unashamedly boxy, which is no massive surprise in SUV design these days (see also: Hyundai Santa Fe, KGM Torres, upcoming Jeep Compass), but we can’t help but feel Honda’s designers have taken a look at the Alfa Romeo Brera and said ‘yes, we’d like even more C-pillar than that.’ If that is the case, then job done.

As for why it’s being driven by a four-time F1 champ, that’ll be because these images are from one of Red Bull’s Showrun events in which the team takes over a city centre somewhere to rip some of its old F1 cars around and remind everyone how good the sport used to sound until the current turbo V6s spoiled our fun.

This one took place in Tokyo ahead of this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, in collaboration with Red Bull engine constructor Honda, hence the presence of this prototype. As you can tell, Verstappen, a man whose day job is piloting the fastest cars on planet Earth, looks ‘thrilled’, ‘delighted’ and ‘ecstatic’ to be driving a mid-size electric SUV. Ditto his teammate, Sergio Pérez Liam Lawson Yuki Tsunoda.

In case you were wondering, yes, Isack Hadjar and Lawson were there too, representing the VCARB squad. At least the Kiwi got to soften the blow of his demotion by having a go in the new Prelude instead.