Photo credit: Paul Richardson | Twitter: @ValleyTuning
Honda Motor Co. announced during a live briefing on Monday evening that it will launch 30 electric vehicle models by 2030, with a production volume of more than 2 million vehicles per year.
Over the next ten years, the Japanese automaker plans to invest $40 billion (5 trillion yen) in electrification, including developing its own electrification architecture and exploring new growth opportunities in space exploration, eVTOL, avatar robots, and other areas.
According to Toshihiro Mibe, Honda’s CEO, the company will invest around $64 billion (8 trillion yen) in research and development over the next decade, as well as an additional $80 million (10 billion yen) in startups, which could help the automaker expand its business and shift from selling products alone to offering combined solutions.
Photo credit: Wend | Twitter: @WendFinancial
Honda and Sony announced a new venture to develop and market EVs last month.
At the briefing, Honda’s SVP Kohei Takeuchi stated that the company will rely on external finance options as needed.
Honda said last month that it would issue $2.75 billion in USD-denominated Green Bonds to fund the development and manufacturing of zero-emission vehicles.
The company announced in June 2021 that by 2040, it would have completely phased out gasoline-powered vehicles.
On Monday, Honda covered a lot of ground, including battery development plans, the commercialization of its mini EV, and more. Let’s take a look at the automaker’s new electrification strategy.
Ridiculously cheap EVs
By 2024, Honda plans to introduce a ridiculously cheap mini-EV model for commercial use in Japan, with a price tag of $8,000 (1 million yen). The company will then begin to roll out personal use mini-EVs and EV SUVs, according to the company.
According to Mibe, Honda is first offering this car for commercial use since Japan lacks the charging infrastructure needed to implement a large-scale EV deployment.
The firm also plans to launch two mid-to-large EV models in North America by the same year — a Honda Prologue SUV and an Acura SUV — that are currently being developed with General Motors at prices that are cost-competitive with ICE vehicles.
Photo credit: F&L Asia Ltd. | Twitter: @fuelsandlubes
Honda and GM announced a partnership last week to co-develop electric vehicles in North America by 2027, based on GM’s Ultium platform, that will cost around $30,000.
In addition, the automaker has stated that it will construct a dedicated EV production line in North America.
Moreover, Mibe reaffirmed Honda’s previous commitment to launch 10 new EVs in China under the e:N Series by 2027, with two of them set to go on sale this year.
To support production in one of its most important markets, Honda plans to build a dedicated EV plant in Guagzhou and Wuhan.
According to Takeuchi, Honda is also aiming to launch two electric sports models, a specialty and a flagship model, by the middle of the decade, but it’s unknown whether these cars will be as cheap as the others Honda is planning to release soon.
Leave a Reply