Honda Partners With GM To Develop Its Next Two Electric Vehicles

Sulu

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I have not seen much about Honda's EV plans -- other than the Honda E -- so this came as a bit of a surprise to me, by partnering with GM and not partnering with a Japanese company.

It seems that these 2 Honda EVs will be sold in North America only. What about Honda's plans for European EV models?

 

Joaquin Ruhi

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...this came as a bit of a surprise to me, by partnering with GM and not partnering with a Japanese company.

To the contrary, I would've been more surprised if Honda had teamed up with one of the other 2 major Japanese automotive groups (Toyota and Nissan) than with GM, given the history of GM-Honda collaborations over the years. The first one of these was a bit indirect: during the 1990s Honda and Isuzu sold rebadged versions of some of each other's vehicles, a time during which GM owned between 34% and 49% of Isuzu. Into the 21st century, GM's original Saturn Vue crossover (offered between the 2002 and 2007 model years) offered the option of Honda's J35A3 3.5-liter V6 mated to their H5 automatic transaxle. More recently, GM and Honda have collaborated on hydrogen fuel cells, autonomous driving (with GM affiliate Cruise) and electric battery technologies.
 

spwolf

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Consolidation makes sense for both Honda and GM, and everything about that deal makes sense.
GM also does not sell cars today in many of the major markets, so teaming up with manufacturers makes a lot of sense.
 

mikeavelli

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I have not seen much about Honda's EV plans -- other than the Honda E -- so this came as a bit of a surprise to me, by partnering with GM and not partnering with a Japanese company.

It seems that these 2 Honda EVs will be sold in North America only. What about Honda's plans for European EV models?


Honda has all but giving up in Europe. They are not well received there. They pulled out cars they badged as aCuRa as and they Honda Civic hatch and type r made in the U.k looks to be on its deathbed cause of brexit.

The USA is Honda’s biggest market and they actually build more Honda’s in the USA than Japan. With the RLX being discounted, 100% of Acura’s are built in the USA.
 
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The USA is Honda’s biggest market and they actually build more Honda’s in the USA than Japan. With the RLX being discounted, 100% of Acura’s are built in the USA.
Acura spent their marketing money to be the new sponsor of the Grand Prix of Long Beach, but unlucky them, the 2020 event is canceled.
 

Will1991

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@mikeavelli , Honda certainly do have a good share on how they're doing here in Europe...

2020-honda-civic-hatchback.jpg


They made the biggest seller, the CIVIC, look like this.... Uglier won't be easily achieved! After two not so well received (design wise) previous generations.

Then the Honda E, here in Portugal it will cost around 15% more than the Mini Cooper EV and almost 20% more than the Peugeot e-208 with 100km more range. I'm all in favor of electric cars, but this one will have a though time selling.
 

spwolf

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Honda E Is very nice car... just range limited and maybe too expensive... but it really does look different in a good way.
 

mikeavelli

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@mikeavelli , Honda certainly do have a good share on how they're doing here in Europe...

2020-honda-civic-hatchback.jpg


They made the biggest seller, the CIVIC, look like this.... Uglier won't be easily achieved! After two not so well received (design wise) previous generations.

Then the Honda E, here in Portugal it will cost around 15% more than the Mini Cooper EV and almost 20% more than the Peugeot e-208 with 100km more range. I'm all in favor of electric cars, but this one will have a though time selling.

Yeah its been a disaster there recently for them. They are also struggling in Australia with rumors of almost pulling out.

 
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Yeah its been a disaster there recently for them. They are also struggling in Australia with rumors of almost pulling out.
That is crazy news. I would think even in Australia more of their population would love Honda as much as Toyota.

Obviously, the Big T is the dominant brand down under now, and Hyundai and Kia have also gotten really popular there as well. Even Mazda is doing better there than it is stateside.
 

IS-SV

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Regarding topic here (GM/Honda EV.s), are you guys seeing any signs of these EV’s being more than low volume mediocre compliance cars?...
 

spwolf

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Regarding topic here (GM/Honda EV.s), are you guys seeing any signs of these EV’s being more than low volume mediocre compliance cars?...

GM has invested a lot into their EVs. I dont think they would be compliance cars at all. However, keep in mind they would still be fraction of their sales:
 

IS-SV

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GM has invested a lot into their EVs. I dont think they would be compliance cars at all. However, keep in mind they would still be fraction of their sales:

Great, that would be a change. The amount being spent supposedly should result in better EV’s. Lets see what ends up keeping it relatively low volume (or small fraction of sales), tbd. Data I’ve seen also suggest no real volume for years too.
 

Sulu

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If these EVs are mainly for American sales (rather than European sales), I don't think they will be compliance models, since American fuel efficiency and emissions regulations are not that strict that automakers feel the need to load up with EVs. And with American fuel efficiency and emissions regulations likely easing thanks to President Trump, what pressure there may have been will be lessening.

There is no pressure (and so there is little demand) for EVs as there is in Europe and China.

But while these may not be compliance models, they can still be considered to be early-stage, real-world test models (as the first- and second-generation Prius Hybrids were not very mature models). Battery chemistry and battery packaging are still immature and very likely to change with each new model change.
 

spwolf

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If these EVs are mainly for American sales (rather than European sales), I don't think they will be compliance models, since American fuel efficiency and emissions regulations are not that strict that automakers feel the need to load up with EVs. And with American fuel efficiency and emissions regulations likely easing thanks to President Trump, what pressure there may have been will be lessening.

There is no pressure (and so there is little demand) for EVs as there is in Europe and China.

But while these may not be compliance models, they can still be considered to be early-stage, real-world test models (as the first- and second-generation Prius Hybrids were not very mature models). Battery chemistry and battery packaging are still immature and very likely to change with each new model change.

funny part is that there is more demand in US than in EU for EV models, when there are no govt legislation that forces EV sales.
In any case, since some govts support sales by heavily incentivising plugin sales, Europe was only market that heavily increased sales.
Generally it makes sense too as fuel prices are still high here - "high is new low".

3814

3815

excellent resource:

Path to EV is easy if every govt basically heavily taxes ICE like Norway does.
 

Will1991

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Here in Portugal it still is very high at around 1.3€/L for regular (was at around 1.55€/L before this pandemic)... Given how low oil is at the moment, when prices soar again due to more demand, if we get up to 2€/L even without any incentive we will go even higher than now on BEV share.
For January was around 8% market share if I remenber correctly.
 

spwolf

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Here in Portugal it still is very high at around 1.3€/L for regular (was at around 1.55€/L before this pandemic)... Given how low oil is at the moment, when prices soar again due to more demand, if we get up to 2€/L even without any incentive we will go even higher than now on BEV share.
For January was around 8% market share if I remenber correctly.

yeah, as long as they keep building charging networks so it makes sense to do it.

Since I live in apartment building, there is no way for me to charge at home, and i very much doubt there will be for next 10-15 years.
So I would have to change my way of life in order to charge a plugin every 3-4 days. Not that simple for me.
 

Will1991

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I also live in a apartment with parking spots similar to what we find at a shopping mall.
At least our authorities released legislation making it hard for the condos prohibit a BEV charger instalation at your parking spot, with all of the expenses paid for by the car owner.
Yes, it still can be hard and expensive to do the electric instalation, but it's something I don't mind doing.
With a 320km highway range, at this moment it would do more than 90% of my trips without using any public charger, so I would save quite a lot of money and time as well.
 

spwolf

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right now it is not possible for us to get it in our owned parking space, and even if they would allow it, without state power company doing it cheap with some incentives, it would be likely crazy expensive to install strong outlet and power meter there.

But that could change, with EU and local goverment giving incentives... after that, some plugin like Rav4 - where you get extra power plus 60-70km of range seems nice... Pure EV is a no go for me personally since I often travel >700km trips.
 

IS-SV

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I charge at home in my garage a couple times per week, and use Tesla supercharging for road trips, it’s surprisingly easy (and cheap) here in CA.
 

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Will1991

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Tesla Supercharger network is quite incredible, and in-car integration with navigation is super easy to understand. European legislators are trying to make it technical possible for other brands to have similar app for our public infrastructure.

I want to have a similar combo as you have, but with a Lexus BEV (similar to your SR3+ or the unavailable MidRange version) and a GT86, both in red, but it has been quite hard to buy the first one.