Honda’s chief executive officer doesn’t believe consumers can be incentivized to switch to EVs. Honda is spending $700 million to retool plants and $3.5 billion to build a battery plant for mass EV manufacturing. The executive thinks the future is electric, but it will take time.
Electric vehicles and hybrids are currently having a downturn moment.
Speaking with The Drive at the 2024 Monterey Auto Week, President and CEO of American Honda Kazuhiro Takizawa discussed EVs, communities, and consumers.
Takizawa said, “You can’t force the consumer to change their mind, really, and to some degree [you can incentivize] them, but we just can’t require the people living in, say, the Midwest, with no charging stations.”
The issue, Takizawa believes, is that customers won’t simply make the switch from ICE vehicles to EVs quickly, even with incentives. It’s going to be a gradual transition, according to the executive.
At the event, Acura unveiled a Performance EV concept that previews one of the first EVs to come from the luxury automaker on the internally developed Honda e:Architecture platform. The production version will roll off the assembly line at the carmaker’s Marysville Auto Plant in Ohio in 2025.
Honda is already underway with a $700 million retooling effort at three of its plants, along with a $3.5 billion battery plant, all for U.S. EV mass production. These steps could position Honda to outperform all but Tesla in U.S. EV production.
Takizawa’s comments came days before Ford shifted its electrification strategy, killed its three-row EV, and doubled down on hybrids.
Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson noted at the 2024 Monterey Auto Week that the softening of the EV market is a “short-term phase,” and that “retreating into hybrids is a blind alley.” Both Rawlinson and Lucid’s President of Design and Brand, Derek Jenkins, commented that consumers have more EV options than ever, yet the options are underwhelming.
Battery EVs are the best way to reach carbon neutrality, according to Takizawa. However, today’s ecosystem is lacking in charging infrastructure. Social changes and societal shifts take time, he noted.
Honda’s current EV, the Prologue, is a reskinned Chevrolet Blazer EV based on GM’s Ultium platform. Green Vehicle Information noted in February that at the crossover SUV’s launch, it comes across as something more like a “standard” effort. It’s not a niche effort like the Toyota bZ4x; the Prologue aimed at capturing EV-curious Accord, CR-V, and Passport drivers.