Japan's Honda to scale back on electric vehicles, concentrate on hybrids

CEO Toshihiro Mibe told a press conference the automaker has lowered its planned investment in electrification and software through the 2030 business year to 7 trillion yen ($48.4 billion) from 10 trillion yen previously.

"Based on the current market slowdown, we expect EV sales in 2030 to fall below the 30% that we previously targeted," Mibe said, adding battery-powered cars might make up only around 20% of the company's sales by then.

Honda said it expects to sell 2.2 million to 2.3 million hybrid vehicles by 2030. It has not released a total sales target for that year.

It plans to launch 13 next-generation hybrid models globally in the four years from 2027. It will also develop a hybrid system for large-size models that it plans to launch in the second half of the decade.

Earlier this month, Honda announced it had put on hold for about two years a C$15 billion ($10.7 billion) plan to build an EV production base in Ontario, Canada, due to slowing demand for electric cars.

Honda said, however, that it still plans to have battery-powered and fuel-cell vehicles make up all of its new car sales by 2040.

($1 = 144.7 yen)