Honda posts first loss ever after EV pullback

[MrJayhawk]

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/14/....iVA.20Iq.9z1vucPVxA2q&smid=nytcore-ios-share

Honda Motor on Thursday reported its first annual loss since becoming a publicly traded company in Japan seven decades ago, as the costly retreat from its ambitious electric-vehicle targets plunged earnings into the red.

The automaker reported a net loss of $2.7 billion for the fiscal year that ended March 31. Earnings were weighed down by more than $9 billion in restructuring charges and write-downs following a retrenchment of its E.V. strategy. It is the first loss that the 77-year-old company has reported since listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 1957.

In 2025, electric vehicle sales in the United States fell, snapping a record-breaking growth streak half a decade long for electric cars. The slowdown has also weighed on American majors. Earlier this year, Ford said its electric-vehicle division lost $4.8 billion in 2025 and would likely continue to lose money for at least two more years.

 

[AZjeff]

You got this thread locked in post #2.

 

[Astro_Guy]

It seems as if all of these auto manufacturers are blaming their EV losses on the elimination of a subsidy here in the US, but the US represents only 19% of the global auto market. Something doesn't add up here.

 

[mitsuman47]

Good for them. Better to cut bait now than to go further down the EV path, only to come to the same realization: that you had no business in that arena in the first place.

Governmental pressures pushed them in this direction. They tried to placate, and their business/share holders eventually had to pay the price.

There’s a market for EVs. Just not enough of a market that every single vehicle manufacturer needs to have them in its lineup. I welcome these recent EV program abandonments, and hope for many more.

 

[buster]

I think Honda has fallen off a bit over the last few years. Stagnant brand. Their engine options aren't really class leading and they've made some odd decisions. They didn't really have a good EV offering.

Their gas engines are so so - 1.5T has some known issues. They dropped the NA Port 2.0 in favor of a GDI only 2.0 with less power.

Civic and Accord will always sell well. Both good cars.

 

[Astro14]

OK - folks, I’ve had to delete a couple of political comments. It’s OK to discuss EVs - but leave the politics out of it, even if you consider your political position to be the “truth”.

 

[Zee09]

I think Honda has fallen off a bit over the last few years. Stagnant brand. Their engine options aren't really class leading and they've made some odd decisions. They didn't really have a good EV offering.

Their gas engines are so so - 1.5T has some known issues. They dropped the NA Port 2.0 in favor of a GDI only 2.0 with less power.

Civic and Accord will always sell well. Both good cars.

Agreed...they need to tighten up the QC too

 

[slacktide_bitog]

The biggest problem was that the Prologue wasn't a Honda, and people noticed

Honda should've done the engineering and have GM rebadge a Honda, instead of the other way around.

 

[Vercingetorix]

I can see the Prologue being a problem. SUV platform sold by another company. Same thing GM did to Saab before they went away.

 

[alarmguy]

@Astro_Guy
Answer BYD and the other Chinese EV makers. Honda and other mainstream makers are having a hard time competing.
It's not the USA market. It's the enormous cost of restructuring on a world wide basis to compete with China. I have not seen anything about the expiration of EV credits affecting Honda. That is subjective speculation forwarded by the writer or the OP.

Honda over estimated the North American EV market, poured money into developing all EV vehicles only to cancel them finding out Americans didnt want them, went back to gas and hybrids here and have been hammered by low cost Chinese vehicles overseas according to the article.

 

[E365]

It seems as if all of these auto manufacturers are blaming their EV losses on the elimination of a subsidy here in the US, but the US represents only 19% of the global auto market. Something doesn't add up here.

Autoline has implied these big EV losses/writedowns companies are doing absolutely aren’t all just EV losses. I’m no accountant, but they’re tying other things in the broad excuse of “EV losses”.

 

[jghall00]

The biggest problem was that the Prologue wasn't a Honda, and people noticed

Honda should've done the engineering and have GM rebadge a Honda, instead of the other way around.

It would not have worked. The selling point of Ultium was scale. The same hardware is bring used for at least ten vehicles that I can think of. Cadillac is actually going gangbusters with EV conquests, and that same hardware is being sold in cheaper models. Honda could not have done the engineering since its product offerings are far more limited.

 

[E365]

Regarding the Prolouge, I doubt 90%+ of the buying public knows or cares whose factory it came out of.

GM’s new USA-made LFP packs likely will be ready for MY2028 Equinox EV and Blazer EV. Would be nice to see Prologue hang-on and get these much cheaper batteries.

 

[PWMDMD]

It seems as if all of these auto manufacturers are blaming their EV losses on the elimination of a subsidy here in the US, but the US represents only 19% of the global auto market. Something doesn't add up here.

Honda’s own disclosure cites canceled North American EV models, U.S. incentive changes, tariffs, weaker competitiveness in Asia, and intensifying Chinese competition, not just subsidy removal. The U.S. tax credit did end for vehicles acquired after September 30, 2025, so it is a real factor, but not the whole story. Global EV sales were still growing strongly, with the IEA estimating electric car sales rose more than 20% in 2025 to 21 million units, which makes the “EV demand collapsed” explanation too U.S.-centric.

 

[jghall00]

Honda’s own disclosure cites canceled North American EV models, U.S. incentive changes, tariffs, weaker competitiveness in Asia, and intensifying Chinese competition, not just subsidy removal. The U.S. tax credit did end for vehicles acquired after September 30, 2025, so it is a real factor, but not the whole story. Global EV sales were still growing strongly, with the IEA estimating electric car sales rose more than 20% in 2025 to 21 million units, which makes the “EV demand collapsed” explanation too U.S.-centric.

Japanese manufacturers have lost a ton of market share in Southeast Asia.

GM’s new USA-made LFP packs likely will be ready for MY2028 Equinox EV and Blazer EV. Would be nice to see Prologue hang-on and get these much cheaper batteries.

The new chemistry is LMR, not LFP. I can't see LFP in the Blazer. The range for the lower trims would drop too much. It might work in the Equinox.

 

[demarpaint]

They'll bounce back.

 

[JeffKeryk]

"Wait till the big boys get in..."

Honda, Ford, GM and the rest have lost money on their EV business because they did not make cars that the public wanted and their manufacturing costs are too high vs selling price.

They thought it would be easy, like most of the posters here. They thought their name was enough to beat the snot outta the snotty nosed new kid on the block. Their business plans and execution have failed, at least up till now. Hopefully they have learned their lessons.

Look at Toyota. They improved their EV SUVs, the bZ and RZ (compete directly with the #1 Model Y), and now they are the #3 selling EV model in the US. Rather than stuff a motor battery into an existing ICE platform, the e-TNGA is a pure play EV.

 

[E365]

The new chemistry is LMR, not LFP. I can't see LFP in the Blazer. The range for the lower trims would drop too much. It might work in the Equinox.

They’re doing LFP and LMR and NMCA - all 3 - tailored to specific vehicle segments.

The Ultium Spring Hill, TN plant has already begun producing LFP cells for energy storage systems and will add LFPs for vehicles by the end of 2027. The GM / Samsung plant in Indiana plant will make LFPs too.

Then the LMRs are a slightly further-out plan, mostly with LG.

Things are fluid, of course, but the plan is basically to give Chevrolets LFPs, Buick/GMCs LMRs and Cadillac the NMCA cells. Ultium Cell LLC has already implied the “2nd GEN” NMCA cell is coming.

The Bolt replacement (“Next Gen Affordable EV”) platform will get the USA-made LFPs too.

 

[jghall00]

Rather than stuff a motor battery into an existing ICE platform, the e-TNGA is a pure play EV.

The GM Ultium platform is EV specific. Cadillac is doing well with its EV transition. Sales were up like 20% and 75% of buyers are conquests.

 

[4wd]

The GM Ultium platform is EV specific. Cadillac is doing well with its EV transition. Sales were up like 20% and 75% of buyers are conquests.

I’m seeing more and more in Houston - sharp vehicles …