I'm Not Sure Why Honda Bothered With This Teaser for the 2023 Pilot TrailSport

Honda is making a Pilot for model year 2023 with at least one trim capable of going off-road.

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Can you see the Pilot?
Can you see the Pilot?
Photo: Honda

If you squint while looking at the above photo, you can see the 2023 Honda Pilot, thanks to a release on Tuesday from the Honda Motor Company. Honda, in fact, calls the 2023 Pilot “most rugged and capable Honda SUV ever,” which is a claim. I suppose this photo is supposed to convey that as well, that the new Pilot is capable of climbing mountains or something. Instead, it is more like Where’s Waldo?

Now, we are all used to teasers from automakers that reveal a tiny feature of the car, or a taillight detail, or perhaps even the car’s grille. I try to ignore such things as much as possible, because they are a very unsatisfying form of marketing, the entire point of them being to generate posts on the internet. This new Honda one isn’t much different, though it is the first teaser I can remember that approached the tease in this way.

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We must, in fact, zoom in if we are to see anything of importance.

Image for article titled I'm Not Sure Why Honda Bothered With This Teaser for the 2023 Pilot TrailSport
Photo: Honda
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Well, even further.

Image for article titled I'm Not Sure Why Honda Bothered With This Teaser for the 2023 Pilot TrailSport
Photo: Honda
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So, what we have here is a shitty pixelated photo of the 2023 Honda Pilot, that appears to reveal a spy car that is probably also ugly in person as well. Honda did not release any other information about the 2023 Pilot, or say when it will be doing so, and it’s not even clear if the 2023 Pilot will be a new generation Pilot — it’s currently in its third — or merely a new model year. Honda did, however say that the Pilot “Will Get You There. And Back,” which suggests that it’s at least good enough to be basic transportation.

If Honda had made this a true Where’s Waldo?-type deal by placing the 2023 Pilot in a large scene filled with characters and cars doing amusing things, that would’ve been at least a fun little game to play. As it stands, this is just a stupid exercise in zooming in on a photo, which I assume pre-literate toddlers know how to do instinctually these days. Anyway, congrats Honda, as posts like this are your reward. As usual, none of us learned anything.