TapTechNews May 16th news, according to Bloomberg, Honda CEO Tsubasa Iino announced today that the company will invest ¥100 trillion (approximately $465 billion) by 2030 to drive towards electrification.
Honda also plans to reduce the manufacturing cost of electric vehicles by more than 30% and lower battery procurement costs in North America by 20%. Iino stated that the company aims to introduce a total of seven new electric vehicle models globally by 2030, with electric and fuel cell vehicles accounting for 40% of global sales. Our goal is to make electric vehicles that are better in software than current market cars, he said.
In other plans, Honda will launch two models under the Yue brand in China later this year, with the goal of full electrification by 2040. The company aims to achieve sales of approximately 1 million hybrid vehicles this year and lay the foundation for an annual production capacity of 2 million vehicles.
In the fourth quarter of this fiscal year, Honda's operating profit grew nearly sixfold year-on-year to ¥305.9 billion (approximately $14.21 billion), far exceeding analysts' average expectations of ¥248.3 billion. Specifically, Honda's sales in the United States increased by 17% to approximately 378,000 vehicles, while the Chinese market saw a decrease of over 6% to 207,000 vehicles.
Recently, Honda announced a memorandum of understanding with IBM to jointly develop next-generation semiconductor and software technologies for software-defined vehicles (SDV). Honda stated that the use of smart/artificial intelligence technology is expected to significantly accelerate throughout society from 2030 onwards, with SDVs using these technologies poised to become mainstream in mobile travel. Compared to traditional mobile travel, SDVs are expected to significantly improve processing capabilities, power consumption, and the complexity of semiconductor designs.