Skip to content
Tech News
← Back to articles

Honda’s $9 Billion EV Pivot Just Delivered a First for the Company. And It Wasn’t Good.

read original get Honda EV Charging Station → more articles
Why This Matters

Honda's recent $2.7 billion loss highlights the challenges faced by traditional automakers in transitioning to electric vehicles amidst market hesitation and policy shifts. The company's shift from an aggressive EV target to focusing on hybrids underscores the industry's need to adapt strategies to consumer readiness and infrastructure realities. This pivot could influence other automakers' approaches to electrification and market timing.

Key Takeaways

Listen to this post

Honda just did something it hasn’t done since 1957: It lost money. The Japanese automaker posted a $2.7 billion annual loss for the fiscal year ending March 31.

Just five years ago, Honda pledged to make its entire lineup electric or hydrogen-powered by 2040 — a more aggressive timeline than Toyota, which stayed cautious about EVs and stuck with hybrids. Honda even partnered with General Motors and Sony to develop battery-powered cars. But customers weren’t ready to plug in. After an initial wave of early adopters, mainstream buyers balked at high prices and spotty charging infrastructure. Then, federal EV subsidies got gutted under the Trump administration.

Now Honda is ditching that 2040 target entirely and doubling down on gas-electric hybrids, planning to launch 15 next-generation models by 2030. CEO Toshihiro Mibe says the goal is to restore Honda to record profits by the decade’s end.