The second largest Japanese automaker, Honda, and the American General Motors announced on Thursday that they were abandoning their plan to jointly manufacture “affordable” electric vehicles, the sale of which was due to begin in 2027. “After in-depth studies and analysis, we have decided to “reach to a mutual agreement to end the program,” the two groups said in a joint statement, adding that they both “remain committed to making the electric vehicle market affordable.”
Honda and GM announced last spring this project to jointly develop a new line of electric vehicles at “affordable and desirable” prices by combining their mutual technologies. “After studying the issue for a year, we decided it would be a difficult task. So we ended” the project, Honda President Toshihiro Mibe also said in an interview on Bloomberg TV. Honda has clarified that it remains “focused” on its goal of achieving 100% of its global sales in electric vehicles by 2040.
A commercial driverless taxi service in early 2026
Currently, General Motors, like the other two American giants Ford and Stellantis, is affected by a social movement that, it estimates, has weighed 200 million dollars on its operating profit in the third quarter, and decided on Tuesday to withdraw its forecasts . of annual results. In a message sent to its shareholders this week on the occasion of its quarterly results, the American stated that it wanted to “moderate the acceleration of electric vehicle production in North America to protect our prices, to adapt to the slowdown in growth in demand at short term and apply technical improvements (…) that make our vehicles less expensive to produce and more profitable.
GM and Honda have been collaborating for several years on various projects, particularly around the autonomous vehicle company Cruise, in which GM owns the majority of the shares and in which Honda has invested. They announced last week their intention to launch a commercial driverless taxi service in Japan in early 2026, which will depart from central Tokyo with a few dozen Cruise Origin vehicles, a 100% autonomous model, and which could be expanded later.
Source: BFM TV
