“Can’t force people to change their minds”

• Honda’s CEO doesn’t believe consumers can be incentivized to change to EVs
• Honda’s spending $700M to retool plants and $3.5B to built a battery plant for mass EV production
• The exec believes the future is electric, but it’ll take time

Electric cars and hybrids are currently having an inverted moment. 

Speaking with The Drive at the 2024 Monterey Car Week, President and CEO of American Honda Kazuhiro Takizawa talked about EVs, ecosystems, and consumers. 

Takizawa said, “You can’t force the customer to change their mind, really, and to some degree [you can incentivize] them but we just can’t force the people living in, say, the midwest, with no charging stations.”

The issue, Takizawa believes, is consumers won’t just make the change from ICE vehicles to EVs rapidly, even with incentives. It’s going to be a gradual changeover, according to the executive.

At the event Acura revealed a Performance EV concept that previews one of the first EVs to come from the luxury automaker on the in-house developed Honda 0 platform. The production version will roll off the assembly line at the automaker’s Marysville Auto Plant in Ohio in 2025.

Honda’s currently underway with a $700 million retooling effort at three of its plants along with a $3.5 billion battery plant all for U.S. EV mass production. The moves could position Honda to outpace all but Tesla in U.S. EV production.

Takizawa’s comments came days before Ford shifted its electrification strategy, killed its three-row EV, and doubled down on hybrids.

Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson noted at the 2024 Monterey Car Week that the softening of the EV market is a “temporary blip,” and that “retrenchment Into hybrids is a blind alley.” Both Rawlinson and Lucid’s president of design and brand, Derek Jenkins, commented that consumers have more EV options than ever, yet, the options are underwhelming.

Battery EVs are the best way to reach carbon neutrality, according to Takizawa. But today’s ecosystem is lacking for charging. Societal changes and societal issues take time, he noted.

Honda’s current EV, the Prologue, is a reskinned Chevrolet Blazer EV based on GM’s Ultium platform. EV kind of cars noted in February at the crossover SUV’s launch it gets to something greater as an effort that registers as “normal.” No niche effort like the Toyota bZ4x, the Prologue aimed for capturing EV-curious Accord, CR-V, and Passport drivers.