Honda Motor Co. is shelving plans to jointly develop affordable electric vehicles with General Motors Co. due to changes in the business environment, Chief Executive Officer Mibe Toshihiro Mibe said.
Automobile manufacturers Already agreed In April last year, General Motors created a new architecture based on Ultium EV batteries, which will be mainly used in small crossover sport utility vehicles, and plans to launch the first models in North America in 2027.
General Motors warn Earlier this week, the company could no longer say whether it would meet its $14 billion profit forecast this year and blamed the UAW strike for making the company’s financial future difficult to predict. The automaker said costs are increasing by about $200 million a week due to shutdown-related costs and are now as high as $800 million.
“After a year of research, we decided it would be difficult for the business, so for now we are stopping the development of an affordable electric vehicle,” Mibe said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. “General Motors and Honda Solutions will be found separately. The project itself has been cancelled.”
Mibe did not mention the UAW strike specifically, but cited cost and range challenges as reasons for halting the program.
Their goal is to assemble electric vehicles that will cost less than GM’s planned $30,000 Chevrolet Equinox and future similar products from Honda. By joining forces, GM and Honda aim to lower battery costs faster and develop electric vehicles at prices competitive with market leaders Tesla Inc and BYD Co.
GM and Honda have been deepening their cooperation to share development costs and increase sales. The two automakers have been collaborating on hydrogen fuel cells since 2013. Cooperation to develop electric vehicle batteriesgas-powered vehicles and autonomous driving technology.
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