Honda has just unveiled their Motocompacto, an electric scooter that, incredibly, folds into a rectangle just 3.7" wide, 21.1" tall and 29.2" long. In its briefcase form, it takes up little space and can be fully charged from a regular wall outlet in 3.5 hours.
It seems like the world has turned away from the briefcase, and some Honda exec, still stuck in '85, said offhand, "ya know what would be really cool..." and now he gets to carry two briefcases.
I'd be more interested in something that converted into a functional rolling hard case (with storage) than this thing. This is just another thing to carry.
Japanese business execs very much are all still living in 1985. Japan, especially its corporate culture, is infamous for being stuck in the past. This is bafflingly at odds with its outside perception of being a nation full of bleeding edge innovation. And it is... but only in some aspects.
Japan is almost exclusively run by old men. Traditionalism is tough to budge there. A ridiculous amount of mission critical business communication in Japan still relies on fax machines. Not email. Not messenger apps. Fax machines. In 2023.
Anyhow, even if the rest of the world has turned away from the briefcase we've just replaced it with the laptop bag anyway.
I jokingly call myself a weeb because I like some Anime/manga/LN/WN and had/have an interest in their history and culture... but because of such interest in history I also know of a lot of terrible things they've done, plus how conservative and bigoted the country is. They've always been resistant ro change, and proud of it. I haven't fully kept up, but like America, they also love to hide their atrocities.
I know I can get China imports where I am for around that price. For obvious reasons I ain't buying those!
US$1k is worth it for something that comes from a manufacturer like Honda who have more to lose if your scooter bursts into flames. A vehicle like that can last 10 years, you want to have the peace of mind and safety.
Those specs are absolutely terrible. I’d be fine if it wasn’t going to be available in the US. It’ll just be another failure for EV haters to point at.
Not that people aren't allowed to enjoy things, but it sure is wild to live in a world where we can use our electric scooter briefcases to weave our way around the people starving in the streets.
For historical precedent, Honda originally devised the Super Cub -- literally the most sold vehicle in history, bar none -- with design elements in mind specifically to make it useful for Japanese noodle shops to use as a delivery vehicle. If they think hipster startups will buy this and slap their logo on the side and tootle around downtown, well, so what?