Honda's Prologue EV To Be Killed Off By The End Of The Year
Prologue. It's a pretty optimistic name. The EV was Honda's first to go on sale, built in a joint partnership with GM, when many thought EVs would gradually approach a majority of the US market. Honda put it best, back in 2024, saying the EV "marks the Prologue to the shift towards electric vehicles for the people.
Those days are long past, and consumers and legislators have indicated a clear preference for hybrid and gasoline-powered vehicles. Honda will likely allow the Prologue to become an epilogue, according to a new report from Automotive News.
Honda
By the end of this year, the Prologue will be on its way out, says industry forecaster AutoForecast Solutions. Production will end in December, and there won't be another electric SUV following it. Honda partnered with GM on the Prologue, which used the same basic architecture to underpin many EVs, like the Chevrolet Blazer EV, Acura ZDX, and Cadillac Lyriq.
Speaking of the Acura side of the business, Honda recently pulled the plug on three other electric models on March 12. The automaker announced that the Acura RSX and the Honda 0 sedan and SUV won't even make it to production. Instead, the automaker will write off approximately $15.8 billion. Clearly, the brand believes EV demand to be so low that it's now a smarter move to kill off three EVs (and potentially a fourth) before they really ever got a chance to hit dealers. The Prologue itself has only been on sale for a handful of years, starting production in 2024.
This isn't uncommon in the auto industry right now. Ford’s own dead EV plans led to a write-down totaling about $19.5 billion. Stellantis’ own write-down cleared $26 billion, and GM’s totaled some $7.6 billion. Some still have EVs on sale, or plans for them, but most are leading with gas and hybrid-heavy lineups. The shift is in part driven by consumer demand for EVs, but largely by regulators. 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shift back towards EVs as the regulatory climate in the US has shifted again under the Trump Administration, which has repealed key aspects of US climate legislation and ended federal subsidies for electric vehicles, including the $7,500 federal EV tax credit.
At least at Honda, competition in China made the brand give the Honda 0 and Acura RSX a second look: “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.”