Honda Tomo Concept: An Electric Transformer That Changes From Coupe To Pickup

Honda and the Istituto Europeo di Design (IED) are joining forces to introduce the Tomo concept at the Geneva Motor Show.

Previewed last month, the Tomo is a compact electric vehicle that shares a number of styling cues with the Urban EV concept which debuted at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2017. While that particular concept was created in-house, the Tomo was developed as part of a thesis project by 13 students from IED Torino who were working on getting their master’s degree in transportation design.

IED says the students were tasked with creating the “ideal means of transport for young people in the next six years.” Just like in the real world, the students spent months planning and researching their creation which is described as part “smart device” and part “mobility tool.”

Named after the Japanese word for friend, the Tomo is billed as a “faithful companion” that can be adapted to fit the needs of its owner. The school was coy on specifics, but the images show the Tomo can be converted from a small coupe into a tiny pickup truck.

The main exterior design was created by Ricardo Alejandro Campos Ortega, while Rudraksh Banerjie was responsible for the cabin. These winning designs, selected by Honda, were then further refined by the team which also included Tanmay Madhukar Chavan, Michele Corneliani, Shobhanjit Das, Alexander Marcel Fröse, Xiaole Ge, Ramón Emmanuel Hernández Cortés, Tianchen Huang, Sameer Aminullah Khan, Saketh Nalla, Jay Shrikant Nibandhe and Yu-Jie Wang.

The Tomo concept will be unveiled next month and the full-scale version of the car was built by EDAG Italia. While it won’t be going into production, Honda has already confirmed plans to launch a road-going version of the Urban EV later this year.