Honda CEO shares a bold take on the future of electric vehicles

For the past 20 years, those who use cars for transportation have begun to consider another option for their everyday lives: the electric vehicle.

Switching from a traditional vehicle to an EV could solve quite a slate of problems. The biggest is that driving gas-powered cars hurts the environment, a problem climate-change experts have said contributes to global warming and could make Earth much less habitable in the future.

💵💰Don’t miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet’s free daily newsletter 💰💵

Combine this concern with many big vehicle companies making a push towards EVs in the last decade. Elon Musk’s Tesla may have had the biggest impact when it released its model S in 2012, along with the announcement of its Supercharger network, making EV adoption a reality for millions of interested drivers.

Over 6.7 million U.S. residents have purchased an EV since 2010, according to the Center for Sustainable Energy. And while Tesla’s highly-publicized fall in popularity may make consumers think EVs are a passing trend, data continues to show that consumers interest is still there. There were nearly 12.5 million EVs and hybrids on the road as of 2024, and that number has doubled since the start of 2020, according to S&P Global Mobility.

Related: Auto industry starting to see first cracks from tariffs

However, one major automaker that has seemingly been all about embracing EV technology just backpedaled — and its CEO had some notable things to say about the popular automotive movement that may make you rethink buying an EV (or keeping the one you have).

Honda makes a strategic pivot

On Tuesday May 20, Honda  (HMC)  CEO Toshihiro Mibe announced that the automotive company has decided to lower its planned investment in EVs and related software from 10 trillion yen to 7 trillion from now through 2030.

“It’s really hard to read the market, but at the moment we see EVs accounting for about a fifth by then,” Mibe said. 

While it’s easy to read this pivot as Honda indicating it does not believe in EVs, that’s not quite the case. It does, however, signal that the Japanese car company believes adoption rates may be much slower than it originally planned.

“EV investment hasn’t been abandoned, just pushed back,” Mibe also told reporters during an annual business update.

Related: Tesla rival has a disappointing message for EV fans

Mibe also said that Honda foresees hybrids making up 2.2 million of 3.6 million global sales by 2030. The company had previously forecasted this number at 2 million.

Currently Honda also has other issues to address. Earlier in the month, the company said it’s expecting a 450 billion yen hit ($3 billion U.S.) to its 2025 profit as a result of President Donald Trump’s auto tariffs. While 60% of Honda’s production happens in the U.S., the other 40% is adding up to be very expensive.

Shaky sentiment about EVs

When Tesla CEO Elon Musk was on top of the world a few years back, promising that his cars would soon drive themselves and that owners could even make money from the feature, consumers had a more positive overall sentiment about EVs.

However, many have lost faith in Musk after his U.S. government involvement with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk also recently said he would step away from his work with DOGE and recommit to Tesla after the EV company reported a dramatic drop in net income, 71 percent lower than it was a year prior in the same quarter.

By mid-March, reports had begun to surface that Tesla owners were selling off their cars at a record level, per car shopping site Edmunds. 

Slowing EV demand isn’t just about Tesla, though. Honda is also not the only automotive brand dialing back its initial EV investment. GM has also slowed on its original promise that it would go all-EV by 2035, with GM CEO Mary Barra now saying customer demand will dictate its future plans.

Related: Leaked Tesla policy should infuriate Tesla loyalists

#Honda #CEO #shares #bold #future #electric #vehicles