Honda Hornet Concept Looks Like It's Getting Closer To Reality

Back in November, 2021, Honda provided the world a surprising glimpse at a concept that hadn’t even been on a lot of peoples’ radar. New Hornet Concept, as it was called, appeared to be a revival—in computer-rendered form—of a legendary nameplate from Honda’s past. 

While its history doesn’t stretch as far back as, say, the Hawk name, Hornet’s still been around for a while. Twenty-four years, in fact.. That’s precisely the type of thinking that Honda appears to be drawing on in two recent videos that Honda Motocicletas España (or Honda Motorcycles Spain) posted on its official Instagram account. 

The first one shows the evolution of Honda Hornet logos over the past 24 years. The 1998, 2000, 2003, 2007, 2013, and all-new Hornet logos all flash by quite quickly. There’s a little bit of background music to accompany it, but it serves as a convenient base for engine noises from each of the different generations of Hornet over time.  

Honda has yet to release any technical details about the New Hornet Concept, and is keeping those pretty tightly under wraps. However, the sound associated with the all-new Hornet’s short marketing clips is making fans very much suspect that it’s a twin. Of course, said fans are only too happy to say so on Honda’s Instagram, but whoever’s running its social media pages is keeping it all pretty quiet.  

The caption translates to, “Hornet Concept—The rebirth of a legend. Do you want to receive all the news about this model? Register here: Link in bio,” followed by associated hashtags. Interestingly, this little trip down Hornet memory lane doesn’t include India’s Hornet 2.0, which is decidedly quite different from all the other Hornets included in this list. One thing’s for sure: The Hornet we’re hearing in these short video clips definitely doesn’t sound like a single. 

It seems pretty clear that this Hornet Concept is well on its way to becoming more than just a concept, in any case. While Honda hasn’t announced a timeframe for a production launch of the new Hornet just yet, we can say that Honda—like most OEMs—isn't one to let an anniversary year go to waste. 2022 marks the 24th birthday of the Hornet nameplate, which means 2023 will be the 25th anniversary. Could the new Honda Hornet be launched as a 2023 model? I mean, a lot of things could be the case—but that’s certainly one of them.