Honda Motor Co. said Tuesday it is scaling back investment in electric vehicles due to slowing demand and will instead focus on growing hybrid sales with new models.
CEO Toshihiro Mibe told reporters the company has reduced its planned spending on electrification and software through 2030 to 7 trillion yen ($48.4 billion) from the previous 10 trillion yen target.
Mibe said electric vehicle sales in 2030 are now expected to fall below 30% of Honda’s total sales, possibly making up only about 20%. The company plans to sell 2.2 million to 2.3 million hybrid vehicles by 2030 but has not set a total sales target for that year.
Honda intends to launch 13 next-generation hybrid models globally from 2027 to 2030 and is developing a hybrid system for larger models to debut in the latter half of the decade.
Earlier this month, Honda paused a C$15 billion ($10.7 billion) plan to build an electric vehicle production base in Ontario, Canada, citing weakening demand. Despite the slowdown, Honda aims for battery-powered and fuel-cell vehicles to represent all new car sales by 2040.
