Honda Calls EV Future "More of a Marathon Than of a Sprint"
Honda still believes EVs will dominate the market... eventually.
You'd be forgiven for thinking Honda isn't really about battery electric vehicles (BEVs), at least in North America. The company has just one EV in production right now—the Honda Prologue—after benching the Acura ZDX one year after it launched. It's also planning on adjusting its production mix to build fewer hybrids and more lower-priced trims. Despite all that, Honda has recommitted to an electrified future, seeing EVs as inevitable—just maybe on a longer timeline than originally expected.
"Regarding electrification, the major policy changes last year disrupted the EV market, but we believe EVs remain the future of personal mobility," said Lance Woelfer, VP of automotive sales at Honda, "but how and when we reach 100-percent BEV in the future will ultimately be driven by customer demand."
It's no secret the end of the US federal tax credit program has set EV market share back. While there was a surge in September ahead of the tax credit end, models across the board saw sales drops in the final quarter of the year. That being said, Honda had the fourth-best-selling EV on the market (not including Tesla, which doesn't release sales figures), shifting 39,194 units last year.
Woelfer went on to call the EV transition "more of a marathon than of a sprint," stressing that this is a long-term approach to electrification that will ultimately be driven by consumer adoption. He went on to predict that EVs are unlikely to make up 10-percent of the total US market sales in 2026.
Honda will be ramping up its own EVs this year, starting with the Acura RSX, which not only debuts the brand's homegrown electric architecture (unlike the GM-sourced platform under the ZDX) but also the new Asimo OS infotainment system. The RSX will arrive in the back half of 2026, followed by Honda's Zero series models.
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Kyle began his automotive obsession before he even started school, courtesy of a remote control Porsche and various LEGO sets. He later studied advertising and graphic design at Humber College, which led him to writing about cars (both real and digital). He is now a proud member of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC), where he was the Journalist of the Year runner-up for 2021.
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