According to reports, Honda Motor recently announced thatIt will produce global strategic models of pure electric vehicles (EV) in India and make India an export base for new pure electric SUVs to be launched in 2027.Honda believes that the Indian market has huge growth potential and manufacturing costs are lower than Japan.With low-priced EVs made in China sweeping the market, Honda will respond to the challenge by improving cost competitiveness.
According to reports, the conventional model of Japanese vehicle manufacturers is to establish technology in domestic factories and then transfer the production model overseas. However, there are limitations to carrying out supply chain reforms only in Japan, so Honda will in turn export to Japan from India to challenge price competition.
It is understood that Honda’s upcoming blockbuster electric model to be produced in India is the Honda 0 Alpah, which is positioned as a small pure electric SUV. Its appearance adopts minimalist aesthetics and an illuminated grille, and the rear door handle is hidden in the C-pillar.
Vehicle batteries come from the CATL factory in Malaysia. Honda President and CEO Hirato Miki said: "Although we use CATL technology, the battery cells will be produced in Indonesia and then shipped to India. So, our batteries will actually come from Indonesia, not China."
At the same time, Honda also announced that,It plans to launch 10 new models in India by 2030, including pure electric and hybrid vehicles.
In addition, it is worth noting that unlike Chinese car companies that are making great progress on the road to new energy transformation, Honda's electrification strategy has not been implemented smoothly.
At present, Honda has not yet created a popular electric model in the Chinese market. The recently launched blockbuster electric models Dongfeng Honda S7 and Guangqi Honda P7 have not achieved breakthroughs in sales.
After realizing the huge resistance to electrification, Honda announced in May this year that it would adjust its electrification strategy.
The first is to reduce the original plan to invest 10 trillion yen in pure electric vehicles by fiscal year 2030 to 7 trillion yen; the second is to reduce the original planned pure electric vehicle sales in 2030 to account for 30% of total sales to 20%.
At the same time, Honda plans to launch 13 new-generation hybrid models between 2027 and 2030.The target is to achieve annual sales of 2.2 million-2.3 million hybrid vehicles in 2030, accounting for more than 60% of total sales.
Although Honda plans to reduce investment in pure electric vehicles and start to increase its investment in hybrid vehicles, Honda still needs to face the disadvantageous situation of electrification.
