Honda Elysion Is A China-Only Minivan Based On The JDM Odyssey

Dongfeng-Honda chose social media for unveiling the first pictures of the updated Elysion minivan for China, which is a sister model of the JDM-spec Honda Odyssey that is sold in other international markets too and is unrelated to the bigger, North American market Odyssey. Like its predecessor, the facelifted Elysion will be built in China by Dongfeng, with the official launch scheduled later this month. The Elysion nameplate was originally introduced in Japan for a minivan closely related to the Odyssey, which then became available in China starting from 2012. In 2015, Honda launched the second-generation Elysion which is getting a facelift this year including styling and mechanical tweaks. The addition of the e:HEV badge on the tailgate means that the facelifted Elysion will incorporate Honda's latest hybrid system, although it remains unknown if it is related to the i-MMD sport hybrid system used by its predecessor. The automaker is using the e:HEV badge for its entire range of electrified models across the world, like in totally unrelated and smaller Honda Step WGN that was recently teased in Japan, or the Honda Jazz which is already available in Europe. Similar to the strategy followed by other automakers, Chinese buyers have the option between the Honda Elysion manufactured by Dongfeng, or the Honda Odyssey built by Guangzhou.