HONDA

Honda finally bets on electrified vehicles

Japanese car manufacturer Honda announced this Thursday that it will double investment in electric vehicles to 10 billion yen (around 59.46 billion euros) by 2030.

The decision was announced by the manufacturer's executive president, Toshihiro Mibe, during the presentation of the company's electrification plans, as Honda seeks to expand its electric and fuel cell models to full sales by 2040, with the aim of face rivals such as Tesla and BYD.

During the presentation, Mibe said that the electric vehicle industry is still taking its first steps, but that, in the long term, “the shift to electric vehicles will continue to advance steadily”, according to a statement released by the manufacturer car.

Of the 10 billion yen, double the amount that Honda envisaged in its previous strategy, around six billion yen (35.67 billion euros) will be used to build a state-of-the-art factory and produce new car models, other two billion yen (11.89 billion euros) will be directed to software research and development and the remaining 2 billion yen to battery production.

The Japanese manufacturer aims to reduce the cost of purchasing US batteries by 20% by 2030, as well as reduce electrical production costs by 35%.

Honda also announced that it plans to launch seven new electric models from its Honda 0 series worldwide, from small vehicles to sports cars.

Honda itself announced last March that it is negotiating an alliance with rival Nissan in the field of electric vehicles and the software for these cars.

Nissan also stated that it plans to invest two billion yen (11.89 billion euros) in electrification and related technologies by 2026, while Toyota announced a year ago an investment of five billion yen (29.73 billion euros ) in electric vehicles and batteries by 2030.

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