Back in May, Honda announced that it was scaling back on its investment plans for pure electric vehicles as part of a strategy realignment, slashing its R&D budget on electric models from 10 trillion yen (RM264 billion) to seven trillion yen (RM185 billion), with some of the money saved going into hybrid powertrains instead. It also revised its goal of having EVs make up 30% of its sales by 2030.
Despite this and the subsequent cancellation of a three-row EV SUV aimed at the US market, electrification remained very much at the forefront of the automaker’s showcase at the recent Japan Mobility Show 2025, with the 0 Series Saloon and SUV sharing the stage with the new 0 α (Alpha) SUV study, which was the focal point alongside the Super-One EV prototype.
How then does all this equate to a reduction in focus, and, more importantly, where do hybrids sit in the scheme of things? According to Honda president and representative executive officer Toshihiro Mibe, both EVs and hybrid vehicles are integral components to its business, although the direction in which they are being approached differ somewhat.
Speaking to the Asia-Oceania press during an interview held after the show, he reiterated what he said earlier this year about the brand not abandoning its EV path. “It is not really that we are scaling back on the development of full battery EVs. It is just that we are saying that compared to our initial forecast, the value would have to be lower than what we had envisaged earlier,” he said.
“The EV market is slowing down. But if you look at the medium or long-term perspective into this, then for carbon neutrality solution, EVs are still the optimal solution, we believe. Our thought on that remains unchanged. We are just reviewing and revising the models and the value, so we will still continue to look at EVs and continue to work on that,” he added.
However, hybrids will play their part in ensuring that bridging and continuity is maintained. “While the EV volume is not growing, during that time we will increase the volume of hybrid vehicles. By 2030, we are planning for over two million units of hybrid vehicles. Up until 2030 at least, I believe for our business, hybrid vehicles would be the main portion of our business, and for battery vehicles in that time, we will continue with our R&D activities,” Mibe said.
“We will continue to develop hybrids. We have a plan to offer the evolved version of the mid-size hybrid in 2027, with a new system altogether for that. We also have research and development activities for a large-size hybrid as well. With that done, we can have all sizes of hybrids, from compact and small-size to mid- and large-size, and those will continue to evolve going forward,” he said.
Mibe said that the hybrid path is an easier one to approach, simply because is is an area that the automaker already has many years of experience in. “We have been developing that for over 25 years or so, which means we do have plenty of expertise and know-how when it comes to hybrid vehicles. So without spending, especially extraordinary development expenses, we can utilise our expertise, still keeping down the investment required, and develop models out of those,” he explained.
Within this particular field, Mibe says expansion is possible. “We will continue to develop hybrids that are suitable for each market. Somewhere between hybrids and EVs, there could be space for the plug-in hybrid as well, I suppose,” Mibe ventured.
“If plug-in hybrids are needed between hybrids and EVs, we can develop these as soon as necessary. Our two-motor hybrid systems (e:HEV) are equipped with a traction motor and generator motor, so it is not difficult at all to evolve them into the plug-in hybrid,” he added.
As for research and development, Mibe said that the company was working on the next generation of electrified platforms, and would continue to introduce new technologies to further develop them.
“Those will become new technologies that we can launch into the market in the future, the evolved version of those platforms. It is our wish that the electric vehicle business will be big enough to be equivalent to the ICE (internal combustion engine) business of today,” he concluded.
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