At the Montreal Motor Show in Canada Honda revealed an interesting little concept car called GEAR. It is a design study for a sub-compact vehicle that would be an automotive answer for the Gen-Y lifestyles, says Honda, by being stylish, practical, and efficient.

Well, we don’t know about cool, but the GEAR is certainly cute. It has a wedge-shaped design sort of inspired by the old Civic hatchback. The GEAR features chunky wheels and tires and translucent body panels to look utilitarian, fun, and customizable; qualities that Honda says have never been gathered together before in a car of this class.

So this is what the young urban generation considers the perfect automobile these days. There used to be a time when that was a powerful muscle car, or a fast sports car. Now, however, it is this pathetic little thing.

The GEAR is a design study and probably doesn’t even have a powertrain. But even if it did, it almost certainly was an electric motor or something like that.

“Subcompact cars are usually either utilitarian, but uninspiring or they’re fun, zippy cars that are impractical and too expensive for the Gen-Y buyer,” said Dave Marek, Design Director at Honda R&D Americas, Inc. “GEAR Concept tears down those walls – it’s practical but fun, customizable, connected and affordable. Everything that young, discerning urban buyers would want in a car.”