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- The Honda Passport TrailSport Rugged Roads Project Vehicle aims to give Honda a dose of off-road credibility.
- While this vehicle is just a concept, production trucks will roll out under the TrailSport sub-brand in two or three years.
- The first TrailSports will have cosmetic add-ons, while Honda says the rest will get real trail parts.
You get the sense that Honda would really like off-roaders to give its rigs a little more respect.
Thus, Honda officially launched its off-road-focused TrailSport trim line a couple weeks ago, a new sub-brand that aims to give Honda crossovers and pickups a more dirt-ready demeanor. The first production TrailSport models will be out by the end of this year, but they’ll have mostly cosmetic cladding. TrailSports with actual off-road-ready parts that’ll get you over bigger rocks and up steeper trails will come over the course of the next couple of years, Honda says. Those rides will have wheels, tires, and jacked-up suspensions and be ready to go a little farther out into the dirt than their stock crossover cousins. Ridgeline and Passport would be likely candidates for the more serious TrailSport treatment, but Honda will say which models will get what all in good time.
In the meantime, have a look at this nicely appointed Passport, which will debut at the Overland Expo West in Flagstaff, Arizona (the show runs September 24-26).
“The goal was to get an authentic overland vehicle and I think we hit the mark,” said off-roading Honda enthusiast, Passport owner and YouTube star Jon Tuico, whom you can see on the YouTube channel JonDZAdventuring. Honda enlisted Tuico to help build the project vehicle in part because he has a Passport of his own.
“We really want to reinforce a future direction of TrailSport models and some of the really cool, unique features and off-road capabilities that really helped guide us to mod-out this vehicle,” said Honda’s Matt Burnham.
The Passport Project Vehicle has unique—dare we say rugged—touches, from the TrailSport orange recovery points poking out of the grille all the way to a unique spare tire carrier out back. The vehicle has more aggressive sheetmetal from the A-pillars forward, a beefy looking stainless steel skid plate underneath, a new rear bumper, and large dual exhausts.
“The new exterior design gives the Passport a tougher look that better matches its current off-road capabilities,” Honda said in a release.
The rig also gets a unique grille, TrailSport orange interior accents, and machined 18-inch wheels wrapped in Firestone Destination A/T2 all-terrain tires with sidewall tread for “a more rugged look.” It rides on a JSport suspension that increases ground clearance, while a set of lower door brush guards keep desert pinstriping to a minimum. Up on top is a Sparrow XL rooftop tent from Roofnest to let you camp high above the icky bugs down on the ground.
In all there are 10 items from Honda Genuine Accessories, two from Honda R&D Custom, and the rest from the aftermarket.
While the Passport TrailSport Rugged Roads Project Vehicle will officially debut at Overland Expo, it wouldn’t be too big of a surprise to see it at the SEMA show in November, or maybe even Overland Expo’s other venues.
Let us know what you think about Honda’s off-road foray with its TrailSport sub-brand in the comments below.
