Honda has outlined plans to further accelerate its journey into electrification, saying that this is paramount in order to catch up with the competition. Admitting that it is behind in the EV race, Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe said that the automaker was caught by surprise by the slew of Chinese EVs on display at Auto Shanghai 2023.
“They are ahead of us, even more than expected. We are thinking of ways to fight back. If not, we will lose this competition. We recognized we are slightly lagging behind, and we are determined to turn the tables,” he said when delivering the automaker’s annual business briefing late last week, as Automotive News zprávy.
He said Honda executives didn’t expect to see so many local brands flooding the exhibition hall with advanced EVs of all kinds. Honda had three electric SUVs on show at the event, the e:NS2 and e:NP2 Prototypes, which will go on sale in China in early 2024, as well as the e:N SUV concept, of which a production version is expected by late 2024.
Mibe said it was apparent that Chinese automakers had made big advances during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the world was largely cut off from China by travel restrictions and quarantine measures. Honda COO Shinji Aoyama echoed Mibe’s comments. “We were overwhelmed by the Chinese,” he said.
As a response to that, the automaker said it will be rolling out a slew of new fully-electric models in key markets such as the US, China and Japan, with much of the activity accelerating from 2025. It also reiterated its ambition to produce more than two million EVs annually by 2030.
The first models in the US will be the Honda Prologue and Acura ZDX, both underpinned by GM’s Ultium platform, in 2024. A mid- to large-size EV model based on Honda’s original dedicated EV platform will go on sale there in 2025. The company said it will further strengthen its alliance with GM, co-developing a series of affordable electric vehicles which will go on sale in 2027 and beyond and continuing to explore a broad range of collaboration topics.
In Japan, an EV model based on the N-One will go on sale in 2025, and two small-size EV models, including a SUV type, will enter the market in 2026. As for the three China-only models mentioned previously, they will form part of the 10 new EV models that will be introduced in that market by 2027.
The automaker is also planning to ramp up activity in the field of batteries. In the near-term, this will involve sourcing batteries from GM for its US models, CATL for its offerings in China and Envision AESC for models sold in its domestic market.
It is also delving deeper into research and production in this area. This includes investing and jointly developing semi-solid-state batteries with SES AI Corporation and working with GS Yuasa on high-capacity, high-output liquid lithium-ion batteries. It said it plans to have a demonstration line for the production of all-solid-state batteries running by 2024, with market introduction sometime in the second half of the decade.
The company is also working with trading company Hanwa towards ensuring a stable procurement of crucial elements such as nickel and cobalt in the medium- to long-term, and added it is also exploring ways to utilise recycled battery resources in the future.
Software and electronics will also be an area of focus, the automaker said. It is developing an original vehicle operating system with the aim of adopting this starting from the mid- to large-size EV for the US market in 2025, and it is also expanding research and development in the areas of automated driving/advanced driver-assistance systems and connectivity services.
Chcete prodat své auto? Prodejte to s myTukar.
Prozkoumejte Honda Cars na
