The article below is sourced from Bloomberg Wire Service. The views and opinions expressed in this story are those of the Bloomberg Wire Service and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of NADA.
Honda Motor Co. plans to launch one new mid- to large-sized electric vehicle in North America and four EV models in Japan from 2025, Chief Executive Officer Toshihiro Mibe said, as the Japanese automaker seeks to only sell electric cars globally by 2040.
Japan’s second-largest carmaker will also collaborate with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. on the procurement of chips, aiming to smooth over any supply disruptions after past dearths forced Honda to cut back on production, Mibe said at a media briefing in Tokyo on Wednesday.
“We’ll be able to see the effect of collaboration with TSMC from 2025,” Honda Executive Vice President Shinji Aoyama said at the briefing. At a round table held later in the day at the company’s headquarters in Tokyo, Aoyama explained that after having discussions with many tier-1 suppliers, Honda deemed “it difficult to procure enough chips, so we struck a deal with TSMC.”
“We are talking with other chipmakers also,” he added.
Mibe also said that Honda aims to make its factory in Saitama its first carbon neural plant by fiscal 2026.
Honda is seeking to catch up with global peers that are outrunning it in the race to switch to cleaner cars. The automaker, which also makes a deal of money from selling motorbikes, has teamed up with Sony Group Corp. to develop EVs and earlier this year broke ground on a new $4.4 billion lithium-ion battery plant in rural Ohio in the US.
Mibe said that at this month’s Shanghai auto show, China’s premier car event, Honda realized “things are moving forward more than we expected.” China is moving ahead in the technology of autonomous driving and artificial intelligence, he said.
In China specifically, Honda plans to introduce 10 EV models by 2027. It revealed prototypes of three EVs at the Shanghai show that are expected to go on sale in 2024.
Via the introduction of those new e:N Series models, Honda is hoping to have electric cars represent 100% of sales in China by 2035, ahead of its global target.
Honda also plans to develop an operating system for EVs in North America in conjunction with General Motors Co., Mibe said Wednesday, and is strengthening collaboration with Hitachi Astemo Ltd. for autonomous driving.
Regarding the lack of Japanese government policies or subsidies to support manufacturing EVs in Japan compared to the US and Europe, Mibe said Honda wants to work with the government but doesn’t expect much considering “Japan is already under a lot of debt.”
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