But Honda’s problems are bigger than the US government’s anti-environmental heel turn. No, its other problem is in China, where it admits it just can’t compete. Chinese customers don’t care about efficiency or interior space; they want software features, and plenty of them. And they want them regularly updated, too.
“This has intensified the competition due to the rapid emergence of newer EV manufacturers that leverage their short product development cycles and strengths in the area of software-defined vehicle (SDV) technologies, including advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS),” Honda says. And it just isn’t able to match that rate of development or offer vehicles in China that were better value for the money, “resulting in a decline in competitiveness.”
And if all of that weren’t enough, unlike China and the EU, US demand for EVs is weak and has been undermined by the ending of the federal clean vehicle tax credit incentive, and launching the Honda 0s and the new RDX would simply compound Honda’s losses.
The company says it will beef up its hybrid offerings in the US instead, greenlighting future EVs only if demand and profitability can be met. Oh, and senior executives at the company will undergo voluntary pay cuts of between 20–30 percent for three months. I can’t help wondering if that’s something Detroit might consider as well.
