Honda CEO Bucks Trend, Says He Prefers Hybrids Over EVs

[cawimmer430]

Honda CEO Bucks Trend, Says He Prefers Hybrids Over EVs

It's not every day that you get the chief executive officer of a major automaker coming out against fully electric vehicles, at least as far as the near-future is concerned.

Yet that's exactly what Honda CEO Takahiro Hachigo did in a recent interview with Autonews. Going forward, he said that his company will rely heavily on hybrid models, stating that Honda's current objective is fuel efficiency, as opposed to electrification.

"I believe hybrid vehicles will play a critical role," he said, when asked about electrification. "The objective is not electrification, per se, but improving fuel efficiency. And we believe hybrid vehicles are the way to abide by different environmental regulations."

When the interviewer pushed for clarification regarding fully-electric vehicles, Hachigo went as far as to fire a few warning shots at the industry.



"Are there really customers who truly want them?" – he asked while referring to EVs. "I'm not so sure because there are lots of issues regarding infrastructure and hardware. I do not believe there will be a dramatic increase in demand for battery vehicles, and I believe this situation is true globally. There are different regulations in different countries, and we have to abide by them. So it's a must to continue r&d. But I don't believe it will become mainstream anytime soon."

As for autonomous tech, the Japanese carmaker is clearly interested in a slow approach for that department as well.

"Our plan is to cascade Honda Sensing down to mass-market models such as the Civic and Accord. Instead of going for a setup that requires expensive radars or lidars, we would like to develop these functions in an affordable price range. When it comes to Level 3, you will need a more expensive ADAS system to realize this. We will be cautious in trying to identify what vehicle model will be optimal for this. So, I don't have any timeline or any vehicles decided for Level 3 autonomous driving."

Finally, when asked about his company's future with all these mergers and consolidations happening within the industry, Hachigo made it clear that Honda isn't interested in any capital tie-up, as their goal is to maintain independence.

"Basically, we do not have any intention of having a capital tie-up. The reason is, once we have a capital tie-up, that other party will have some voice in our management, which means in some instances, we may not be able to move in the direction we want."

"So how will we survive in this environment? One example is our relationship with GM, which is a win-win collaboration and not a capital tie-up. We work together on hydrogen fuel cell stacks, electric car components as well as Cruise. We are open to this type of partnerships. We would like to be capital independent."


Link: https://www.carscoops.com/2019/12/honda-ceo-bucks-trend-says-he-prefers-hybrids-over-evs/

[AutobahnSHO]

My ideal desire right now would be a garage with a plug-in hybrid. Could use mostly electricity but have range if needed.

[cawimmer430]

My ideal desire right now would be a garage with a plug-in hybrid. Could use mostly electricity but have range if needed.

Get one of those Volkswagen robots to charge your plugin hybrid...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMC1H__xL3Y

[GoCougs]

Jesus. You know when EVs are dead when...

But Mr. Honda there is correct. The path forward is to improve the ICE.

[cawimmer430]

But Mr. Honda there is correct. The path forward is to improve the ICE.

110% my sentiments. The ICE is so practical and still has potential for more efficiency and can run on an energy dense liquid fuel that is easy to transport and store. Try doing that with an EV!

[NomisR]

You have the admit, instant torque at low RPM is really nice.  Everytime I go back to a regular non-sporty ICE vehicle, I think to myself "this suck ass".. of course until I step into something like my friend's EV Clarity which I immediately prefer an ICE vehicle because that thing is absolutely horrible.

[MX793]

CEO of a company that's lagging the competition in EV development says he doesn't believe in EVs.  In related news, the CEO of Fiat/Chrysler says that reliability is "over-rated". 


More at 11.

[MX793]

You have the admit, instant torque at low RPM is really nice.  Everytime I go back to a regular non-sporty ICE vehicle, I think to myself "this suck ass".. of course until I step into something like my friend's EV Clarity which I immediately prefer an ICE vehicle because that thing is absolutely horrible.

The Clarity is a hybrid, not an EV.

[NomisR]

The Clarity is a hybrid, not an EV.

There's an 3 different clarity, a Fuel Cell, Hybrid, and Plug in EV, he got the plug-in EV one.. with 80ish miles of range..

[Xer0]

I just wish if Honda where to say this that they would make their hybrids more consistent.  Sometimes they are for performance, sometimes they are for fuel economy, sometimes they are the cheap IMA system, sometimes they are advanced multi motor systems like in the NSX, and for some reason the Accord hybrid is always seemingly taking a year off. 

[CaminoRacer]

CEO of a company that's lagging the competition in EV development says he doesn't believe in EVs.  In related news, the CEO of Fiat/Chrysler says that reliability is "over-rated". 


More at 11.

+1

I just wish if Honda where to say this that they would make their hybrids more consistent.  Sometimes they are for performance, sometimes they are for fuel economy, sometimes they are the cheap IMA system, sometimes they are advanced multi motor systems like in the NSX, and for some reason the Accord hybrid is always seemingly taking a year off. 

+1

[NomisR]

That's the sad part, I don't think Honda has created an EV or Hybrid worth a damn since the original Insight, and even it's "performance" hybrids, were meh..

[shp4man]

Common sense from the Honda CEO. 

Where will the power come from to charge all these EVs? Wind and solar? I think not.

[GoCougs]

Thing is, hybrids are a lose-lose too, as demonstrated by the last ~20 years of them (er, the Prius). A Civic (or Corolla) is overall simply the better vehicle for both the wallet and environment.

[CaminoRacer]

Common sense from the Honda CEO. 

Where will the power come from to charge all these EVs? Wind and solar? I think not.

How much power do refineries use? Redirect it from there.