Honda CEO says the brand lags behind China

CEO of Honda’s motobike admitted surprisingly candidly about the threat posed by Chinese automakers after attending the Shanghai auto show.

“They are ahead of us, even more than expected,” said CEO Toshihiro Mibe. auto news.

“We are thinking how to fight back. Otherwise, we will lose this competition,” he added.

“We realized we were falling a bit behind and we were determined to turn the tide.”

He’s not the only executive to talk about Chinese brands, with chief executive Shinji Aoyama saying: “We’re overwhelmed by the Chinese.”

Honda this week announced more information about electric car planconfirmed that it plans to sell two million hydrogen fuel cell electric and electric vehicles by 2030 and phase out the production of combustion energy vehicles by 2040 (2035 in China).

The company’s EV plans seem a bit fragmented and region-focused, at least compared to companies like Volkswagen as well as Chinese companies like BYD.

It currently sells only a pair of small SUVs in China, plus an “e” hatchback in markets like Japan and Europe.

In Shanghai, the company unveiled the e:NP2 and e:NS2 prototypes as well as the e:N SUV Prologue concept, all of which will go on sale in China. until the end of 2024.

They will be part of 10 new EV models launching in China in 2027.

The company is developing different electric vehicles for Japan, China and the US, and enlists partners like Sony and General Motors.

In 2025, Honda will introduce “midsize and large” electric vehicles in North America on the new E&E architecture, derived from Honda’s current E-specific electric vehicle platform but with connectivity capabilities. Better digital services.

It will follow the previous reveal Honda’s Prologue and introduced the Acura ZDX, an SUV that will launch in 2024 using GM’s Ultium platform.

The partnership with GM will continue, with Honda noting that the two companies “will continue to explore a broad range of partnerships” with a more “affordable” range of Ultium EV electric vehicles in the “year.” 2027 and beyond”

In Japan, Honda will launch a commercial mini electric vehicle based on the N-VAN in the first half of 2024, followed by an electric vehicle based on the N-ONE in 2025 and two small electric vehicles in 2026. that would be the SUV.

2022Honda has committed 5 trillion yen, or about AU$53 billion, towards electrification.

Earlier this year, it was completed organizational reformconsolidating electrification efforts across its auto, motorcycle, and energy products businesses and dividing its regional operations into separate North America, China, and Affiliated Regions divisions.

Locally, Honda Australia has a plan make a gradual transition to electric vehiclesconfirmed that it has no plans to introduce any electric vehicles within the next 5 years.

“Our electrification strategy is to use hybrid to connect with electrification in the future, we don’t have any plans to introduce electric vehicles at the moment,” said Honda Australia boss Carolyn McMahon. speak. auto expert this early year.

Mibe-san isn’t the only CEO who appreciates Chinese brands, with Ford CEO Jim Farley being another.

“There is a very impressive large company, BYD. They are in a completely different world than Tesla,” he said earlier this month in comments reported by Reuters.

“They are completely vertically integrated, completely, all the way down to the battery. No one is doing it globally.

He credits the success of new brands in China focusing on electrification, technology and digital experiences, including Automobiles, Nio And Xpeng.

“The real difference comes down to technology and services,” he said.

“They are all beautiful. All these cars are very beautiful. Go to China.”