Honda Skydeck Concept | Futuristic or Blast from the Past?

Back to the future, anyone?

Not that kind of Skydeck (image by flickr)

People who have seen the Honda Skydeck concept minivan, which was unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show, call it “futuristic.” The front doors are scissor doors. You know, like the ones on the DeLorean, so that’s what I thought of immediately when I saw photos of the Honda Skydeck concept.

The Honda Skydeck concept is built in such a way that the back doors slide open like a regular minivan, and the front doors open by flipping up. There’s no divider between the doors, so when both sets are open there’s full access to the inner cabin with nothing but seats in the way.

More to come on Honda Skydeck concept

Not much else is know about the Honda Skydeck, but as is to be expected from Honda, the design is meant to appeal to a “wider range of ages and lifestyles.” Also, as expected, the Honda Skydeck is a hybrid vehicle.

Of course, Honda doesn’t want to spoil anything like how big your car loans will have to be to buy it, so there’s no word on the price yet. The fact that it’s a hybrid minivan designed to look cool indicates it’ll be on the higher end, but Honda is known for making inexpensive vehicles.

Reviews of Honda Skydeck

The official Tokyo Motor Show web site says “In designing the Skydeck, Honda transcended these traditional boundaries to create an automobile appealing to people of a wider range of ages and lifestyles.” The UK Autoblog, which claims to “obsessively cover the auto industry,” had this to say:

One of the design highlights of the show is bound to be the Honda Skydeck Concept. This futuristic, airily named family van is clearly a long way removed from being a production-ready vehicle, yet it arouses more than just passing interest. With its windscreen blending into a glass roof, driver and passengers have an impression of unconstrained freedom.

So I suppose we’ll be seeing the Honda Skydeck concept brought to reality on showroom floors in a few years. In the meantime, people who wish to own hybrid minivans will have to either order them from Japan or wait for the Toyota Sienna next year.