Honda 3R-C Concept-Honda has been delving deep into the weird lately

Honda has been delving deep into the weird lately, but at least this latest concept is something you sit in, rather than on (the unicycle), or next to while it plays a trumpet—oops, that’s Toyota’s robot; Honda’s Asimo only walks and shakes old people’s hands. Never mind.

The three-wheeled 3R-C will debut at the Geneva auto show, where it will share floor space with the decidedly less weird EV-N. Like the EV-N, the 3R-C is an electric vehicle, although this one only holds one occupant, rather snugly it appears—kind of like an electric sock you drive. The batteries are said to sit low in the vehicle, keeping the center of gravity close to the ground.

Look Out! Look In?

Honda says that, in motion, the 3R-C’s canopy provides the driver “significant protection from the bodywork and doors,” which are apparently out to get him or her. Perhaps that’s what the Japanese see fuelling driving excitement in the electric future: vehicles that actively try to kill their occupants. Exhibit A: Toyota. (We kid!) In front of the driver is a lockable trunk, so in that way it’s less like a Toyota and more like a Porsche.

We can’t totally blame the 3R-C’s weirdness on Japan, however, as the vehicle was created at Honda’s research and design facility in Milan—Italy, not the Milan south of our office that the people pronounce “My-lin.”