Honda Motor Co. on Wednesday unveiled its new Edix minivan, featuring an unconventional seating layout.
"The Edix is a minivan developed under a totally new concept," Honda President Takeo Fukui told a news conference in Tokyo.
The 4.29-meter-long minivan features two rows of three seats, unlike conventional minivans, which have three rows without a center front seat. Honda says the seating layout enhances communication.
Honda hopes the Edix will help it grab a bigger share of the growing minivan market.
It said the position of each seat can be independently slid forward and backward, while the center front seat and all three back seats can be folded down to create more space.
Honda said parents can attach a child seat to the center front seat.
The Edix, priced between 1.785 million yen and 2.205 million yen, is mainly targeted at families and people in their 20s and 30s.
The name Edix, coined from the words edit and six, is intended to suggest a six-seater minivan that allows passengers to "edit" the seating arrangements to suit their needs.
Nevertheless, the Edix will be renamed for its release on the European market in the autumn, Fukui said.
