Honda Reminds Us Its Working On A New Hornet

One of the biggest surprises at the 2021 EICMA show last November was the news Honda is working on a new Hornet model.

At its booth in Milan, Honda presented a sculpture with an elaborate light show projecting a hint at what to expect from the new Hornet. In the six months following EICMA, however, there has been very little, er, “buzz”, coming from Honda.

Honda looks to rectify the situation, releasing several sketches of the Hornet along with a short video about the design process behind the concept.

The various sketches show different iterations with a common insectoid theme. The sketch shown at the top of this article was the only one Honda released as its own individual image, suggesting it’s the closest to what we can expect from a production model.

The shape of the fuel tank looks to be set, being very narrow at the back and flaring outward with two pieces of bodywork stabbing forward and down, following the line of the fork tubes.

The sketches show an engine with a Unicam cylinder head, a detail also depicted in the light show on the EICMA concept. The light show confirmed the engine is a Parallel-Twin, and the overall architecture had a strong resemblance to the Africa Twin’s engine. While we can’t entirely rule out a similar 1084cc displacement, we expect the Hornet will be in the middleweight class like the previous models that bore that name.

Honda hasn’t provided a timeline for when we can expect the Hornet to enter production, but a 2023 launch remains likely, with more details expected at this year’s EICMA show.

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