Interface News Reporter | Wei Yonglang
Faced with the slowing demand for electric vehicles, another multinational automaker is considering adjusting its electrification strategy.
Honda CEO Toshihiro Sanbu told investors during the company's technology day, "Our plan to build electric vehicle factories globally has a certain degree of flexibility. If the market trend is unexpected, we can adjust our strategy." He also mentioned that the construction of some battery production lines may be postponed.
This means that Honda may delay the development goals of electric vehicles, just like car manufacturers such as Toyota and Volvo.
Honda previously set a grand goal for its electrification transformation, planning to invest 10 trillion yen in electrification by 2030. A total of 7 new electric vehicle models will be launched globally, increasing the sales proportion of electric vehicles to 40% worldwide. The annual production of pure electric vehicles will reach over 2 million units, and full sales of electric vehicles will be achieved by 2040.
Although Toshihiro Sanbu stated that he will maintain this target for now and explain the current stagnation in electric vehicle sales as a "short-term headwind," the continued decrease in global demand for electric vehicles has made Honda's electrification transformation hesitant. In the first half of this year, Honda sold about 13000 electric vehicles, accounting for approximately 0.7% of its total passenger car sales.
Japanese car manufacturers, who have always been cautious in their electrification transformation, are also seeking new breakthroughs and reducing production costs is an important direction.
Honda recently announced that it will learn from Tesla and Chinese manufacturers by introducing integrated component molding technology and equipment, which can reduce the number of body parts to less than one tenth and achieve integrated aluminum body die-casting, thereby reducing the production cost of pure electric vehicles. Honda will use this technology on its new electric vehicles to be launched in 2026.
It is worth noting that Honda did not choose the more mainstream and advanced 9000 ton aluminum forming equipment, but instead chose production equipment with a pressure of 6000 tons. The equipment scale is relatively small and cannot produce body parts on a large scale at once like Tesla, but it can be compensated for by Honda's expertise in joining technology. Honda stated that adopting a hybrid production method can reduce costs by 40%.
Currently, Honda has 11 electric models worldwide and has launched Prologue and Honda e in the US and Canadian markets. In addition, Honda expects to launch its high-end electric vehicles under the Honda 0 series in markets such as North America by 2026.
In the Chinese market, Honda only offers X-NV and e: NP1 electric vehicle models. In the first eight months of this year, Honda's terminal car sales in China were only 525000 units, a year-on-year decrease of 27.2%. Honda plans to reduce its current annual production capacity of 1.49 million vehicles in China to around 1.24 million vehicles.