Honda Is Bringing Back The Element In 2029 As A Hybrid Ford Rival
Honda has hinted that the Element is coming back — and this time it’s bringing a hybrid powertrain to the fight. Announced on June 24, 2026, the revived Element is slated for a 2029 arrival, and Honda isn’t being subtle about who it’s targeting: the Ford Bronco Sport, currently one of the hottest compact adventure SUVs on the market.
This isn’t a nostalgic nameplate slapped on a crossover to chase search traffic. Honda is leaning hard into what made the original Element a cult favorite — the boxy proportions, the no-nonsense utility, the interior you could hose out after a muddy weekend — and pairing that philosophy with a modern hybrid drivetrain. For the surfers, campers, and gear-haulers who swore by the original, this one’s worth paying attention to.
The Original Element’s Cult Status Made This Revival Inevitable
The first-generation Element ran from 2003 to 2011 and never chased mainstream approval. Honda designed it around a specific kind of buyer: someone who actually used their vehicle as a tool. The clamshell rear doors, the rubber-floor interior that cleaned up with a garden hose, the flat-folding seats that turned the cargo area into a sleeping platform — none of that was accidental. It was a deliberate bet on function over fashion, and it built a following that outlasted the model itself.
When Honda discontinued the Element in 2011, the used market kept the community alive. Owner forums stayed active. Values held. The Element became one of those rare cases where a discontinued vehicle’s reputation grew rather than faded — which is exactly the kind of groundswell that makes a revival worth the risk. Honda has been watching that loyalty for over a decade. The 2029 announcement suggests the company believes the adventure-utility segment has grown large enough to support a dedicated, purpose-built entry rather than a rebadged crossover.
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Hybrid Power Meets Outdoor-Ready Utility
Honda is pairing the Element’s return with its next-generation hybrid platform, which the company previewed earlier in 2026 as a system targeting better efficiency, lower costs, and all-wheel-drive capability. That last point matters for the adventure crowd: AWD is table stakes in the compact off-road segment, and a hybrid system that adds low-end torque without sacrificing ground clearance could give the Element a genuine capability argument rather than just an efficiency one.
Honda’s existing hybrid SUV lineup has already demonstrated the platform’s real-world potential — the current CR-V Hybrid and Passport Hybrid both return strong fuel economy figures while handling light trail duty. The Element’s more upright body and utility-first packaging would give Honda room to tune the system toward capability rather than pure mpg. Confirmed specs and final dimensions haven’t been released yet, but Honda’s explicit Bronco Sport comparison suggests the new Element will slot into the compact adventure SUV class rather than positioning itself as a traditional family crossover.
Element vs. Bronco Sport: Two Very Different Answers To The Same Question
The Bronco Sport has carved out a strong position by leaning into heritage and lifestyle. It looks the part, carries the Bronco name, and comes loaded with off-road-flavored trim levels and retro styling cues. It’s aspirational in the way a good piece of gear marketing is aspirational — it makes you feel like an adventurer before you’ve left the parking lot.
The Element is coming at this from the opposite direction. Where the Bronco Sport sells a feeling, the Element has always sold a solution. Dirty gear goes in the back. Wet suits get peeled off without worrying about the seats. A surfboard fits without gymnastics. Honda’s positioning of the hybrid Element as a direct Bronco Sport competitor is a clear signal that the company sees a buyer who’s grown a little tired of lifestyle-first packaging and wants something that just works. Whether that’s a large enough slice of the compact adventure market to matter is the real question — but given how long the original Element’s cult has stayed warm, Honda clearly thinks the answer is yes.
The 2029 Element won’t arrive in a vacuum. Ford is simultaneously expanding the Bronco family with smaller and more specialized variants, and the compact adventure segment is getting crowded fast. But Honda has something most competitors don’t: a pre-existing community that never stopped wanting this vehicle. If the hybrid powertrain delivers genuine capability alongside the original’s practical DNA, the Element revival could be one of the more legitimate enthusiast comebacks in recent memory — not a nameplate cash-in, but an actual answer to what its owners have been asking for since 2011.
Source: Automotive News
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