In a market obsessed with crossovers, SUVs and trucks, the humble minivan segment is refusing to yield. American Honda, which proudly announced a solid October 2025 sales performance of 111,000 units, a respectable 3.6% increase year-over-year. The main Honda brand contributed 100,000 units, pushing its ten-month total past the one million mark. And who is quietly helping those numbers? The long-suffering Honda Odyssey.
This sole survivor of a once-booming segment clocked 76,408 deliveries in the first ten months of 2025, a significant 17% surge from last year. It seems that minivans, like sedans but unlike two-door sports cars, are determined to fight to the last, proving that pure practicality never truly dies. The entire segment, from the Chrysler Pacifica and Toyota Sienna to the Kia Carnival, is experiencing a notable improvement.
But the fifth-generation Odyssey, which has been trundling along since 2018, has one gigantic anchor around its neck. The omnipresent, reliable, yet notoriously thirsty 3.5-liter J35Y6 V6 engine. It’s a great motor, shared with the Pilot and Passport, but in an era where the competition has gone green, the Odyssey is looking brown.
The leader, Chrysler Pacifica, offers a PHEV. The Toyota Sienna is hybrid-only, and even the Kia Carnival is getting a hybrid variant. According to the automotive rumor mill, salvation is apparently near. Honda is reportedly on the cusp of introducing a new hybrid system for its larger models. It includes the Passport, Pilot, Ridgeline, and (maybe) the Odyssey. This system is expected to pair Acura’s 3.0-liter V6 with a new electric motor and battery, arriving for the 2027 model.
The question remains: what about the increasingly bones of the Odyssey itself? As one digital content creator, the prolific virtual artist Vince Burlapp (aka vburlapp), pointed out, the current Odyssey and Ridgeline are long overdue for a full generational redesign.
Burlapp, operating in the universe of vehicle CGI, decided to take matters into his own hands. Here’s a speculative rendering of an unannounced, sixth-generation 2027 Honda Odyssey Hybrid V6.
