As titled a few weeks ago on these pages, Honda – the second Japanese brand by volume after Toyota – at the beginning of this year had to admit to having suffered a real financial tsunami: for the first time since 1957 (the year of its stock market listing) it closed with a loss, with a loss of about 424 billion yen, equal to 2.29 billion euros, compared to a profit of 836 billion yen the previous year. All the fault, the management hastened to say (which also cut their salaries for a quarter), of having believed too much – contrary to fellow countryman Toyota – in the possibilities offered by the electric car: activities related to EV vehicles have in fact generated total losses of 1,450 billion yen. And now?
FIRST CANCEL, THEN REDESIGN THE STRATEGY
And now it’s time to restart. Not before shredding the previous strategy through the cancellation of the 0 Series, or Series 0, in short the family of electric cars presented at CES in Las Vegas in January 2025 to debut with the first models already this year.
Instead, with the postponement of the full electric car to 2050, the 0 Saloon and the 0 SUV (characterized by sedan and sport utility body styles) have effectively ended up in the trash. After the two pioneers, it was supposed to be the turn of an entry-level SUV, an “extra large” seven-seat SUV for 2027, and two more compact-sized crossovers between 2028 and 2029 to arrive at 2030 with a compact sedan. All cancelled. Moreover, as noted by this S&P analysis, the cancellation of the RSX and the end of RDX production leave Acura without any compact SUV available at least until 2027.
AND THE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT?
Meanwhile, at least the development of the proprietary Asimo OS software, which was supposed to mark the Japanese company’s entry into the era of software-defined vehicles by operating integrated control of all the main vehicle functions, from infotainment to autonomous driving (the Honda 0 Series were supposed to be its first models with a Level 3 system), should continue.
GAME OVER FOR AFEELA
Speaking of onboard entertainment, it is known, Honda has also crushed the JV previously woven with fellow countryman Sony: officially it remains standing, but it will not produce the cars presented also at CES (again a sedan and an SUV) under the Afeela brand.
HONDA RESTARTS AS HYBRID
A full stop, with Honda rushing to reposition itself on hybrid and cancel all plans to phase out its internal combustion engines. And according to the US publication Automotive News, it restarts under the banner of pragmatism, relying like Ford, Stellantis, Porsche and Volkswagen (the companies most affected by the economic impact of the mid-course strategy change) on a new next-generation platform defined as “multi-energy,” capable of hosting both full electric powertrains and hybrid systems. And most likely it will give priority to the latter, leaving plug-in versions a marginal share, at least until the market changes.
