Future Honda Odyssey & Ridgeline.
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The current Honda Odyssey minivan came out in 2017. The second-generation Ridgeline on sale not is even older and dates back to 2016. Is there a future for these two?
It seems their platform cousins, the Pilot and Passport have both been redesigned. While these 2 survivors are still using the older version of Honda’s Global light truck platform”.
The Odyssey is about as old as the Chrysler Pacifica, although Chrysler has some sort of an excuse since it’s been in a coma for years with no new models coming out.
Its other competitor, the Toyota Sienna was redesigned in 2020, and the Kia Carnival was also new that same year.
The Honda Odyssey sales numbers are going down a bit. From around 99,000 in 2019 to around 71,000 last year. Which is actually not bad at all for such an old model. While the Sienna sold a few 1000s more units.
The Honda Odyssey is obviously due for a redesign, which could be coming since it is based on the same platform as the Pilot. And the Passport, which has just been redesigned. I think a more attractive and modern Odyssey could find a larger audience. Although Honda will only have their good old 3.5 Liter V6 to power it. While Toyota is making the news by using a standard Hybrid powertrain. At least the Honda V6 is the smoothest and far most refined choice.
Just like the Odyssey, there is no news about a new Ridgeline. The current generation came out in 2016. It is quite old and still shares its interior with the previous generation Pilot and Passport. The Ridgeline is a very smooth and comfortable pickup. It almost rides like a luxury car. But the second generation design is much more conservative than the first generation was. And that more “truck-like” design never translated into a huge bump in sales. Although numbers have actually been improving a bit with over 45,000 of them sold last year. However, the newer “real truck” Nissan Frontier was more popular with almost 70,000 units sold.
There is no doubt the Ridgeline is due for a redesign if Honda wants to keep it around. It shares so much with the Passport I do not expect a possible next generation to ever be as cool or original as the first one. However, Honda did a fantastic job with the 2026 passport redesign.
Who knows…
By now, everyone has noticed that the new Passport is a very different design than the Pilot, where the last one was just a 2row shortened version. But guess what…. sales haven’t exactly rebounded to their prior levels for the Pilot. I bet Honda redesigned the Passport because they went too Ford-like conservative on the Pilot…and the sales are showing it. Its also more expensive and doesn’t get its fuel economy isn’t better. And so, their plan for the Ridgeline has probably been adjusted. None of which answers the question of why Honda hasn’t been able to produce a large hybrid, when Toyota has.