2023 Honda Pilot: Less minivan, more truck, spy photos signal

Honda continues to give its light trucks the rugged treatment.

The Passport five-seater was freshened for the 2022 model year with a heavy dose of adventure-oriented styling meant to represent its true capability. The fourth-generation Pilot appears set to follow the same craggy path.

The 2023 Pilot will be revealed this fall and is slated to go on sale by the end of the year. It's a longtime mainstay in the fiercely competitive three-row crossover segment that also includes the Ford Explorer and Toyota Highlander. In 2021, despite the microchip shortage, sales of the Pilot increased 16 percent to 143,062. Honda continues to struggle with supply shortage and logistics challenges, with Pilot deliveries sliding 34 percent to 40,696 through May compared with the same period last year.

A teaser photo of the next-generation CR-V, which will be introduced in July, shows a grille similar to that on the disguised Pilot. Honda is also describing the next-generation CR-V compact crossover as "rugged" and ready for "adventure."

With the launch of the second-generation HR-V compact crossover this month, Honda says a more upright grille would become common across its light-truck lineup.

The shape of the new Pilot also appears to be less jelly bean, more truck. Though the Pilot's grille appears to vary slightly from that on the current Ridgeline pickup, which was refreshed for the 2021 model year, it shares a similar shape and stature, especially from the A-pillar forward. It's a complete reworking of the current Pilot that has a closer resemblance to a minivan.

Honda added a more adventure-oriented, all-wheel-drive only TrailSport trim for the 2022 Passport and Pilot. The 2022 Pilot TrailSport has a 0.06-inch ground clearance lift and 18-inch wheels. Honda has said the TrailSport will play a bigger role in the future.

The next Pilot is expected to ride on Honda's new global light-truck platform that debuted with the 2022 Acura MDX. It's possible the new Pilot also will adopt the MDX's longer dash-to-axle ratio, with a longer hood and what Acura calls a more premium "cab rearward" design.

The Pilot's 3.5-liter V-6 engine will likely carry over with a new 10-speed automatic transmission, also found on the MDX. It's also possible a plug-in hybrid variant will be offered at some point next year.