Honda unveiled its pure-electric EV-STER concept at the Tokyo Motor Show.

Honda’s creative director Toshinobu Minami says this concept “shows the next generation of design language” for the Japanese firm as well as “representing the excitement and thrill that we hope to deliver through future products”.

The EV-STER – a small roadster that focuses on low weight and cost – is one of three new Honda concepts that have stolen the show at Tokyo, revealing a new, more range-consistent design language and a clear message that the Japanese maker is intent on making sports cars again.

At the complete opposite end of the scale to the high-powered Super Sports coupe concept that Honda is going to unveil at the Detroit Motor Show in January, the EV-STER is intended to conform to Japanese Kei-car regulations, which means the car must be a maximum of 3400mm long and 1480mm wide and have an engine of no more than 63bhp, three cylinders and 660cc.

In Japan the EV-STER will likely make it to production within the next two years. It will get a manual cloth roof and be offered with the choice of an electric motor or the 660cc unit that Honda uses in its other current Kei cars.