'Honda to electrify two-thirds of its global car sales by 2030': Takahiro Hachigo

Talking about the introduction of electrified vehicles, Honda Global CEO, Takahiro Hachigo, revealed the company’s strategy for electrification and the progress that has been made to date. 

Hachigo revealed the two perspectives that is being considered under its strategy. One is the improvement of fuel economy and the other is zero emissions. Regulations for the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards are becoming increasingly stringent in every country around the world and complying with CAFE standards is one of the most important challenges for the automobile industry.

Honda, in light of the required infrastructure and how people use automobiles, believes that hybrid technology is, at this moment, the most effective way to comply with CAFE standards. Therefore, it will electrify its products mainly with hybrid technologies. By increasing sales of its hybrid models all around the world, the OEM will contribute to the global environment through the improvement of fuel economy.

The Japanese carmaker will expand the application of its i-MMD 2-motor hybrid system to the entire lineup of Honda vehicles. In addition to the i-MMD hybrid system which is compatible with mid-to-large-sized vehicles, Honda has developed a new, more compact i-MMD hybrid system suitable for small-sized vehicles. This small-sized i-MMD hybrid system will be adopted first by the all-new Fit which it plans to exhibit as a world premiere at the Tokyo Motor Show by the end of this year.

In addition to the expansion of the lineup of products equipped with i-MMD, the carmaker will also expand the application of i-MMD on a global basis. With that, by 2022, it is expecting to reduce the cost of the i-MMD system by 25 percent compared to the cost of this system in 2018.

Hachigo revealed that battery EVs will comply with the zero emission vehicle (ZEV) program being adopted by California and other states in the U.S. and China's New Energy Vehicle (NEV) mandate. Honda plans to introduce its battery EVs to the market by selecting the most appropriate partners and resources to satisfy the different needs in each region.

In North America, Honda will jointly develop battery components with General Motors and introduce highly-competitive battery EVs in the market.

In China, in order to keep up with the fast speed of electrification, the Japanese carmaker has begun introducing battery EV models developed together with its local joint venture companies. While envisioning the introduction of battery EV models from the Honda brand, it will continue utilising local resources in China and introduce more battery EV models in a timely manner to fulfill local market needs.

In Europe and Japan, Honda will introduce the Honda e, a new battery EV model, which was recently introduced as a prototype at the Geneva Motor Show.

Also read: Honda e confirmed as name for maker's electric city car