Honda is considered among the pioneering manufacturers of Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs), much like its Japanese competitor Toyota. Unlike the latter, however, Honda acknowledges the global shift towards Electric Vehicles (EVs) and is making efforts to get up to speed with the changing trend.
According to the Automotive News, Honda’s new CEO Toshihiro Mibe is planning to get another partner on board to expedite the development of EVs. Although Mibe hasn’t disclosed which company Honda will form a partnership with, industry speculations suggest that it is likely to be a major Japanese automaker.
Honda already boasts a partnership with General Motors (GM) which includes both companies using a GM-developed Ultium platform and battery packs for their respective EVs. This platform also underpins Honda’s upcoming EV called the Prologue.
Mibe is also planning for Honda to go fully electric by 2040, and add ten EVs to its lineup in the next five years. Currently, Honda only has one EV in its lineup, called the Honda e, which — although has several interesting features and an appealing design — is not popular due to its ‘less than desirable’ electric range.
Even though Honda does seem eager to embrace the EV paradigm shift, its partnership with GM is mostly intended to benefit the North American market, as its EVs shall be manufactured in the US.
The automaker is, however, strengthening its relationships with other companies such as Mazda, Subaru, Volkswagen, and Ford, which is an effort geared towards the development of EVs and autonomous driving technology.
