Posted Apr 12, 2022, 8:20 a.m. Updated Apr 12, 2022, 8:37 a.m.
Since the launch of a first model to test the market in 1997 – the small “EV Plus” – Honda has sold a total of only 33,000 fully electric vehicles worldwide, or less than 0.1% of its global sales over a quarter of a century. By 2040, the second largest Japanese manufacturer intends to be able to completely reverse its offer and its organization, historically focused on the development of high-performance gasoline engines, to only sell electric vehicles.
This Tuesday, the group announced that it was going to launch 30 new all-electric models worldwide over the next ten years and that it was going to invest 5,000 billion yen (37 billion euros) to fuel this daring conversion. . A priority that will mobilize most of the 8,000 billion yen of research expenditure programmed for all activities combined, by management, over the next decade. “We are going to develop very high-value products on a global scale,” said Toshihiro Mibe, who took over the management of Honda last year to accelerate its transformation, at a press conference.