Honda Has Sold A Brand New CR-Z Four Years After It Was Killed Off

Some dedicated soul in America has bought what may have been the very last unregistered CR-Z coupe in the country – four years after Honda axed it.

Very occasionally, a car whose time is cut short by its maker can live on. Where a car has some spark of intrigue, one can sometimes survive for years in a showroom or storage bay, slowly being forgotten. We don’t know quite whether that’s the whole story, here, but we do know Honda USA sold one.

The CR-Z has a niche following thanks to its small size, agile handling and combination of hybrid power and manual gearbox. Personally, I loved it; its chassis felt reminiscent of the Renault Sport Clio 172/182, while the electric assistance gave it more punch than you’d credit a 1.5-litre non-turbo petrol engine with.

While we don’t yet know who bought the car or where, or when exactly during 2020 the sale came, the fact that one has sold inevitably sparks the question of what other old-but-never-registered cars are still lurking around in showrooms and warehouses. If anyone knows of any, let us know.

Like all car manufacturers, Honda has had a tricky 2020, with factory shutdowns, dealership closures and financial markets uncertainty, not helped by record unemployment in key sales markets. Sales were down 17.2 per cent across the wider Honda vehicles division in the USA, with Acura down 13.5 per cent.

Still, at least the CR-Z helped. A bit.