Honda Base Station concept
Honda
Honda’s research and development team gets to conceptualize and create fun projects like running tests with the U.S. Olympic Bobsled team in its wind tunnel. Or the Motocompacto, a foldable scooter that looks like a rideable suitcase and is wildly enjoyable for short distances.
Not every concept like this goes to market (in actuality, most projects are learning opportunities) but team team learns something from each one. These ideas inspire the scientists in the R&D department to go further and push the edges of what is possible.
Initially, the Base Station camper concept idea came from Honda’s personal project proposal initiative that encourages any associate—regardless of rank, or role, or responsibility—to submit an idea they think Honda should pursue. Motocompacto also sprang from thi process. Ideas span the full range of possibilities from a new type of floor mat all the way to something that would be more at home on Mars, says Jane Nakagawa, vice president of the American Honda R&D Business Unit.
Honda Base Station prototype
Honda
When the idea for the Base Station concept bubbled to the surface, the team knew it had an interesting possibility on its hands.
“Prior to both the Motocompacto and Base Station we had done a lot of research into how consumers were changing and what kinds of lifestyle activities were really coming to the forefront,” Nakagawa says.
Since 2000, camping and outdoors activities have been on the rise. The idea for the Base Station was a bold idea at the right time.
“I’d like to think that everything we do is bold, but we know that’s not necessarily the case,” says Nakagawa. “Especially for mass production automobiles and the scale that Honda is known for here in the United States. But I think it was bold, because we’ve never done it before.”
Honda completed a research study on camping even before Base Station was a twinkle in the automaker’s eye. The study delved into how camping was changing and what modern customers want from a camper. As a result, Base Station fits into a garage, includes a modular kitchen and external shower, and boasts seven feet of stand-up space when the roof is raised. Plus, it has an area by the exit that’s a nod to Honda’s Japanese roots: a genkan, which is an entryway designed for removing shoes, to keep the living space inside clean.
“Camping isn’t just Mom and Dad making you go camping and making you sleep in a scratchy wool sleeping bag, and being cold and eating bad food,” Nakagawa laughs. “It’s a new way of how families, especially millennial families, go outside.”
Honda Base Station prototype being towed by a 2026 Honda Passport TrailSport.
Honda
Senior product leader Dillon Kane says the Honda Base Station Prototype was conceived to “democratize outdoor adventures.”
“Most [camper] offerings on the market are too heavy and too expensive for many people,” Kane says. “We wanted to create something that was accessible, lightweight, and towable with their daily driver.”
The Base Station can towed behind crossovers like Honda’s CR-V or Prologue, when they’re equipped with the 3,500-pound towing package. Nakagawa would like to see Honda’s camper behind rival Toyota’s RAV4.
“My dream is to see Base Station being told by a Toyota product, because behind it, all you see is Honda,” she says. “We would love for a diehard Toyota person to experience the Base Station and think, ‘You know what? We should maybe look at a Honda next time.’”
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