Honda Ridgeline Dream Redesign

I am writing this here in the hopes that Honda will see (LOLOLOL), but also want everyone else's opinion. I got myself a 2024 Ridgeline and this thing is incredible. I flipped a RWD Ranger on an errant ice patch on a clear winter night, and knew I needed an AWD. I had a rental Tacoma and the RWD based 4x4 just didn't make me feel safe on the roads. I also hated how I couldn't power all four wheels while driving on the highway. This AWD corners and handles like a beast while making me feel safe.

MARKET OPPORTUNITY

With the launching of the Maverick, people started to appreciate the Ridgeline unibody and AWD approach as compared to the body-on-frame and 4x4. I think Honda needs to capitalize on this and seriously invest in the Ridgeline and its offerings. I think they can actually capture more of the existing truck market and convert new car buyers into truck buyers, because for most drivers, on-road importance is what actually matters.

CABIN OPTIONS

One of the ways they can capture more of the market is offering different body styles and branding them accordingly. They should obviously keep the crew cab and brand it the "Family Cab." The other offering should be an extended cab with half flip doors to access the storage in the back. Or they can even take the Tacoma Prerunner approach and not offer the half doors, but it would be annoying. They should brand this the "Craftsman Cab."

This craftsman cab should also come with a unique bench seat design. The bench features a middle seat seatbelt, armrest drop downs and storage under the middle seat. The armrests would be 2: one to the right of the driver, and one to left of the passenger). The middle seat storage would be accessed by lifting up the middle seat (like a center console). I drive with my dog and my grandma locally and the dog likes to sit on the center console between us. This is an iconic ad right there: a driver, grandma shotgun, dog in the middle, all three strapped in with seatbelts. It also harkens back to the Americana feel and no one else offers this practical bench option. Honda has already shown they care about practicality with the in-bed truck, and dual action tailgate. The tailgate is my favorite thing about this truck. I am 5'6." It makes reaching into the bed much easier. They can design the bench to be like the bench of the Prius V (RIP). It made the seats more bucket/ individual so you could flip the seats down as needed.

The bed lengths for the family cab should be elongated to 6 feet. The craftsman cab should be elongated to 7 or 8 feet. Imagine the market having a midsize truck with an 8 foot bed. No one is off-roading with an 8-foot bed, so they do not need the mechanical locking of a 4x4. Having AWD with a long bed makes a competitive option for a tradesman/blue collar worker that mostly hauls rather than tows.

PERFORMANCE

In terms of tow and hauling performance, Honda should focus on payload over towing. Payload is the practical number for most people and it is the number they could win in the midsize segment with the least amount of cost. The payload of some of these 4x4 midsize trucks is pitiful. Frontier with the crew cab, long bed, and 4x4 is 1,156, it does tow 6,600 lbs however. Improving towing on a unibody is going to require serious welding and material work on the chasis, and not the point of a unibody. As well RWD is better at towing in general because of torque being more centered in the rig. However payload improvements could be managed with suspension upgrades and a cross beam or two in the bed. They already have the cross beam between the bed and Cab that is required for European safety standards, but not US. They can add a few beams to the bed to increase payload.

Payload goals: They should make it a goal of 2000 lbs for the family cab. For the craftsman cab, by virtue of shortening the cab the payload goes up by lowering the vehicle weight. If they wanted to upgrade the suspension further and reinforce the chasis more, it could definitely brag about it and show they take the needs of America workers into account.

Towing: Like I said payload should be the goal. If they wanted to increase towing to 5,500 or 6,000 just to show improvements between generations, cool. But again most people do not tow, and if converting car buyers to truck buyers is part of the market strategy, those people are not towing. Those would be car-buyers will however load it up to help friends move, get rocks or mulch from a nursery, etc and so would appreciate a bigger payload.

PACKAGING OPTIONS

HPD

Both could come with actual racing package, where they lower the suspension and offer different tuning on the engine, and change the programming of the i-vtm4 AWD to the SH-AWD. Making the truck have more of a rear wheel bias for the rally car feel when cornering would be cool. HPD craftsman could have a shorter bed and remove the bed beams (added to increase payload) to lessen vehicle weight. The HPD package now is a joke, its just decals, and bronze rims. Honda engines are legendary. Injecting racing chops into other vehicles of its brand is smart to making the Honda brand sexy overall.

Trailsport
Both Cabin options should offer competent trailsport packages, not the lazy upgrades they put in the 2024. They need to lift (passport and pilot trailsports have 1" lift...), proper skid plating (not just the oil pan and fuel tank like 2024 trailsport), and change in front fascia to increase approach angle. Other awesome upgrades could be beefing up the suspension (they did this for 2024 trailsport) and adding clutchpacks to the front wheels to torque vector between front wheels. A camera system would also be helpful.

HYBRID

I would love to see a hybrid, because I like most car owners don't keep a car longer than 7-8 years. I am not worried about replacing a hybrid battery, but I would love the instant torque and better fuel economy. In the interest of turning would be car buyers into truck buyers, this makes sense. It was the Ford Maverick strategy and it worked. Turn Focus buyers into Maverick buyers (it is the same platform).

I have seen people say they are interested in Ridgeline with PHEV. However I don't like BEV tech beyond hybrids at all. I don't think the tech is there. We haven't gotten battery recycling figured out, battery tech in regards to energy density and materials isn't there, and our grid is fossil fuel based. 2nd law of thermodynamics anyone? Every time energy changes form the process is inefficient and we lose energy to to heat. With BEV or PHEV we take fossil fuel (chemical) energy from grid, turn it into electrical energy in the battery, and then turn the electrical energy to mechanical energy in the motor (2 changes). With internal combustion engine (ICE) you take chemical energy of fossil fuels and burn it to make mechanical energy (1 change). Hybrids just siphon off the excess energy of the engine and store it for later use. It is why you get better mpg with a hybrid over standard ICE.

Just from a materials perspective the amount of rare earth minerals used in a battery electric vehicle (BEV) or PHEV over conventional hybrid is massive. Toyota released a report to dealers explaining they were focusing on hybrids over BEV because it was more cost effective and the technology wasn't there. They would rather use the minerals more judiciously while the material science of batteries is researched. The numbers they released were 1:6:90. With currently battery tech, the minerals needed to make the 1 of the batteries for a BEV could make 6 PHEV or 90, yes 90 hybrid batteries.

Just my rambling thoughts.