Honda Kills Three New EVs Before They Even Reach The Dealership

Three Honda EVs now won't make it to production following a steep decline in demand for EVs by consumers and a rash of cancellations from automakers. The Honda 0 SUV and EV won't be produced, and Acura's revived RSX crossover won't either: "In order to improve the current earnings situation as early as possible, Honda considered various options; however, after careful consideration, the company made the decision to cancel the development and market launch of three EV models that had been planned for production in the U.S.," the automaker said in a statement.

The end of the three EVs will result in significant losses for Honda, but the brand clearly believes taking the loss on these three EVs now will be cheaper than losing cash at the dealership. The losses are truly enormous and are part of a broader spree of losses across the industry as automakers rush to kill cleaner, more efficient EVs in favor of hybrids and gasoline vehicles. Honda itself says it estimates losses of up to almost $15.8 billion. The EVs were to be developed in-house on one of Honda's own electric vehicle platforms, which would help explain the high figure.

However, it's not quite as high as those from other automakers who have recently made similar decisions. Ford's own dead EV plans resulted in a write-down that totaled some $19.5 billion. Stellantis' own write-down cleared $26 billion, and GM's totaled some $7.6 billion. Automakers have rushed to shift back towards EVs as the regulatory climate in the US has shifted again under the Trump Administration, which has repealed key aspects of US climate legislation and ended federal subsidies for electric vehicles, including the $7,500 federal EV tax credit.

Some plans for upcoming EVs do remain at several of these automakers, but Honda's plans are scarce to nonexistent. Instead, the brand is going to focus on new hybrid models, which carry much greater consumer appeal here in the States. The brand specifically cites growing competition in China as part of the reason it ditched EV plans on a greater scale, in addition to its reasons here in the US market: "In addition, in consideration of the intensification of competition in China, Honda reassessed the recoverability of investments accounted for using the equity method in China, and now expects to incur an impairment loss on the investments accounted for using the equity method."