Honda’s all-American Passport SUV to take on Ford, Nissan, and Chevy

The
2019 Honda Passport SUV.
Honda

• Honda unveiled the all-new Passport
  SUV at the 2018 LA Auto Show.
• The five-passenger mid-size Passport will slot in
  between Honda’s existing hot sellers, the compact CR-V and
  seven-passenger Pilot
• The Passport will go up against the Ford Edge, Nissan Murano, and Chevrolet Blazer. 
• The Passport comes standard with a 280 horsepower,
  3.5-liter i-VTEC V6 engine.
• The SUV was designed and developed by Honda’s R&D
  teams in California and Ohio.
• The Passport and its engine will be built at Honda’s
  Lincoln, Alabama factory. 
• Expect the Passport to go on sale in early 2019 with a
  starting price in the neighborhood of $28,000.

Honda unveiled the all-new Passport SUV on Wednesday at the
2018 LA Auto Show. The Passport nameplate returns to the market
after a 17-year absence. The original Honda Passport, a rebadged
Isuzu Rodeo, was sold in the US until 2002.

“We saw an opportunity to deliver something that Honda is
uniquely capable of making and the new Passport is in a great
position to capture buyers looking for a more personal, powerful
and capable Honda SUV,” Henio Arcangeli Jr., senior vice
president of American Honda Motor Company, said in a
statement.

Honda

The new Passport will go up against established rivals such as
the Ford Edge and Nissan Murano as well as the recently revived
Chevrolet Blazer. The presence of the Passport also gives Honda
shoppers a crossover SUV alternative to its stalwart Accord
sedan.

Read more: 23 hot cars we can’t wait to see
at the 2018 LA Auto Show.

The five-passenger mid-size Passport will slot in between
Honda’s existing hot sellers, the compact CR-V and
seven-passenger Pilot.

The Passport and the Pilot are both built on Honda’s global
light truck platform. In fact, both crossover SUVs have the same
wheelbase, but the Passport is six inches shorter.

Honda

The new Passport will come standard with a 280 horsepower,
3.5-liter i-VTEC V6 engine mated to a nine-speed automatic
transmission. Front-wheel-drive is standard. But a torque
vectoring all-wheel-drive system with intelligent traction
management is available as an option.

According to Honda, front-wheel-drive Passports will be
able to tow up to 3,500 pounds while all-wheel-drive models can
pull up to 5,000 pounds. Available tech features include a 4g LTE
wi-fi hotspot, wireless phone charging, Apple CarPlay/ Android
Auto integration, and the Honda Sensing driver’s safety
assistance system.

Honda

The Passport is an all-American concoction. The SUV was designed
and developed by Honda’s R&D teams in California and Ohio.
The Passport and its engine will be built at Honda’s Lincoln,
Alabama factory. 

The 2019 Honda Passport goes on sale early next year. Honda
hasn’t announced official pricing yet, but expect the Passport to
start around $28,000.