Honda Motor invested too much and too late into a short-lived electric vehicle boom, and now finds itself saddled with an aging line-up and questions about its future as an automaker.
The Japanese company stunned investors by dropping a ¥2.5 trillion ($15.7 billion) impairment charge bomb last week, stemming largely from its ill-timed bet on EVs — some scrapped just months before debuting.
That is likely a precursor to reporting its first annual loss on record.
But Honda’s problems aren’t limited to its failed bid to catch up with all-electric market leaders BYD Co. and Tesla Inc.
Long known for spunky and innovative vehicles, Honda has had trouble in recent years living up to that reputation.
Nowhere is that more the case than in the US, by far its largest revenue generator. Sales in the US grew a sub-average 0.5% last year, and Honda’s once-promising China business has also stalled
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