In order to sustainably offer the joy and freedom of mobility, Honda has put the highest priority on its initiatives in the areas of the environment and safety, including an ambitious goal to “achieve carbon neutrality for all products and corporate activities” and “zero traffic collision fatalities” by 2050.
For small-size mobility products including passenger vehicles, Honda believes that electric vehicles (EVs) are the optimal solution for achieving carbon neutrality from a long-term perspective. Based on this belief, Honda made the strategic decision to make a major shift toward the popularization of EVs and has been making progress with various initiatives.
In the meantime, the environment surrounding the automobile industry is changing day by day. Uncertainty in the business environment is increasing, due particularly to the slowdown in the expansion of EV the market due to several factors, including changes in environmental regulations, which had been the premise for the widespread adoption of EVs, as well as changes in trade policies of various countries. In order to maintain its competitiveness in such a business environment and continue to help and inspire people through its mobility products and services, Honda must create new value not only through electrification but also with enhanced application of intelligent technologies, and then offer such value to a broader range of customers in more accessible and affordable ways.
From this standpoint, Honda will realign its automobile electrification strategy, in the following two directions.
- Further enhance the competitiveness of EV and HEV models with the core focus on application of intelligent technologies
- Strengthen its business foundation through the reassessment of the powertrain portfolio
In the area of applying intelligent technologies, which will be the most critical competitive area of automobile business in the future, while focusing on independent development of next-generation ADAS as a key driving force, Honda will create new value from multiple aspects, while also leveraging collaboration with partners. With this core focus on the advancement of intelligent technology applications, Honda will strengthen its business foundation by reassessing its powertrain portfolio, such as EVs and HEVs.
As for EVs, due to the revision of the product launch plan considering the recent market slowdown, the Honda global EV sales ratio in 2030 is now expected to fall below the previously announced target of 30%. On the other hand, current market demand for HEV models is high. Therefore, Honda will position its HEVs, mostly next-generation HEV models to be introduced to market in 2027 onward, as the powertrain that will play a key role during the transition period toward the popularization of EVs and further enhance its HEV lineup.
With the steady execution of this realignment, by 2030, Honda will strive to increase total automobile sale volume to above the current level of 3.6 million units, with a HEV sales target of 2.2 million units at the core.
