Honda Wins Prestigious Design Award for Debut Electric Scooter
The Honda EM1 e:, Honda’s debut production electric scooter, has won a Red Dot Design Award, along with the foldable Motocompacto
Honda has won four Red Dot Design Awards, including for two of its electric scooters.
The Honda EM1 e: was introduced last year as the first electric production scooter from Honda, using the manufacturer’s Honda Mobile Power Pack e: swappable battery.
“The EM1 e: features simple and slim packaging realised by the optimization of the layout of key components,” Honda says. “High-brightness LEDs are adopted for the lights, contributing to greater peace of mind experienced by customers while riding at night.” Further, “The headlight features a simple, flush-surface design,” which Honda says highlights the “iconic” design of the EM1 e:.
If the EM1 e: won an award for design, it certainly didn’t for having an interesting name. The Honda Motocompacto, though, would certainly be capable of that. But Red Dot has also awarded the Motocompacto an award for product design, anyway.
The Motocompacto was originally introduced in 1981 as a foldable bike to be put in the boot of the Honda City car. Now reimagined with an electric motor, the Motocompacto is easily one of the cutest powered two-wheelers around, and it stays true to the function of the original by being foldable and able to fit in the boot of a hatchback.
The Motocompacto’s design “also enables a high level of customer personalization and tailoring through the application of stickers and other decorations,” Honda says.
Honda also won two other Red Dot Awards, one for an outboard motor, and another for its Miimo robotic lawnmower. 2024 marks the fifth year in succession that Honda products have won Red Dot Design Awards. Its previous winners include the XL750 Transalp and CB750 Hornet.
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