The Japanese automaker will invest 37 billion euros over 10 years in the development of electric vehicles and software.
Japan’s number two automaker Honda announced on Tuesday (April 12th) that it would invest 5 trillion yen (37 billion euros) over ten years in electrification and software, a colossal effort towards its goal of completely renouncing vehicles by 2040. Honda plans to launch 30 electric models by 2030 in all its ranges, projecting an annual production volume of more than 2 million units by this horizon, he added in a communicated.
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With these new objectives, Honda is in line with many other global manufacturers, including its compatriots Toyota and Nissan, which have already announced investments of tens of billions of euros in the electrification of their vehicles. And like Toyota and Nissan, Honda is developing solid-state batteries in-house, a new generation of batteries that are supposed to be tougher and more efficient than current ones. The group plans to launch a pilot line in this area in the spring of 2024.
Traditionally, the organization at Honda was divided into major product families (two-wheelers, automotive and other equipment). But from its 2022/23 financial year, which started on April 1, the technologies of the future (electric and fuel cell motors, batteries, software, etc.) used in common will be integrated into a single entity, to create synergies and accelerate their development. Honda plans to build two electric vehicle production plants in China as well as a dedicated production line for this category in North America.
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The group is increasingly closely allied in North America with the American giant General Motors: the two manufacturers moreover announced last week that they were going to co-develop a new line of electric vehicles at “affordable” whose production is supposed to start in 2027. But Honda no longer refrains from forging partnerships with other companies in parallel: at the beginning of March it also joined forces with Sony in electric vehicles, a segment that is also coveted the Japanese tech giant.