Now it’s official: The US is getting the 2026 Honda Prelude. While the news isn’t a surprise, it was only heavily hinted at until today when Honda confirmed it. The hybrid two-door Honda coupe will arrive in our market later in 2025 and will do its best to maintain the performance suggested by its looks, despite sharing the hybrid system of humble origins with the Civic, Accord and others.

Key to that feeling of performance will be the use of what appears to be (for now) an exclusive Prelude Linear Shift Control, which Honda says will give the coupe “the feeling of a conventional powertrain when changing gears” at full throttle. While this sounds completely banal, it’s actually big news given how Honda’s current hybrid setup works: there is no traditional type of transmission between the drive wheels and the engine, especially not one that shifts from gear to gear in conventional mode “Switching gears” can make sense. Instead, a large electric motor provides the main driving force, while the gas engine supplies it with power via a smaller motor-generator unit; The engine can be engaged to a single-speed direct transmission to assist the drive wheels in certain situations where this is deemed more efficient. This means that every “shift” would be completely wrong, similar to the simulated drops in speed in the Honda Civic and Accord Hybrid models; It is not yet clear whether linear switching control differs in any way from this programming. However, this could be done by handing control of these “shift points” to the driver. This also confirms our suspicion that if Honda were to use its hybrid powertrain, it wouldn’t be able to release a true manual or even a DCT version of the Prelude.

In addition to this “Linear Shift Control” there is a new driving mode called “S Plus Shift”, stylized as “S+ Shift”. Again, Honda says this will improve the driving experience of the 2026 Prelude by “maximizing the efficiency of a high-performance engine and high-performance engine and finely controlling engine speed across all acceleration and deceleration ranges based on driving conditions.” This aggressive feel is combined with an active sound controller to achieve “strong acoustic feedback” and a “responsive meter that engages the senses.”

Honda alerted us to this system in October during the Honda 0 prototype drives, but said at the time that this acoustic system is expected to be introduced in all-electric Hondas by 2028. It seems like Honda has developed a version that can currently apply to the 2026 Prelude, and we expect a version entirely dedicated to electrics in the coming years.