Featured Honda CEO Doesn't See Dramatic Increase In EVs

I saw this as well. My honest feeling on this is they believe Toyota with the Prius, Prime already have the market cornered. Why buy something else that does not have the track record and reliability with the battery? We looked at the insight and accord hybrid but the reviews are not excellent long term and there are many folks that had the civic hybrid who suffered and switched to Prius or Camry hybrids I would imagine. Can’t beat toyota at the hybrid game. I just hope toyota will strengthen its “game” at the plug in variety with stronger ev range than they do today. Just my two cents!

 

Article should be titled: "Car company with few EV's hopes that EV demand doesn't skyrocket"

As we've noticed with the Japanese automakers, they are doubling down on their fuel-efficient gassers and hoping that the market doesn't completely shift under their feet in a decade. By 2030, we might be talking about the Japanese automakers like we talk about American ones now.

 

Well if you really want to get technical, maybe it should be "Car Company With Few EVs Hopes Demand Isn't Met By Anyone Else Either"

Demand doesn't need to skyrocket, it just needs to be left unmet. There doesn't seem to be much danger of anyone else building an electric Civic. The Ioniq & Niro are somewhat close, but the volumes are low enough that they don't need to worry.

 

Hmmm, according to Bloomberg’s survey of 5000 Model 3 owners, the Civic was number 4 on the list of cars traded in for the Model 3.
The Accord was number 3.

Tesla Model 3 Survey: Buyers Trade in BMWs and Toyotas For Musk’s Hit Car

While not huge numbers, the percentages are likely to grow if Honda doesn’t have an Electric option.

 

I can't speak for Honda, but they sure move like they don't care about little markets.

 

yep

 

EV adoption is ramping up slowly
Like the three bears and goldylocks
I try not to think to hard about it, ever!

 

Honda has repeatedly said it will never bring another small car to the US

A PHEV 2000 Honda Insight would be ideal for me

 

So then the question is, are they going to pull their Accord and Civic models, or let them wither on the vine?

 

LOL - what, are there NOT a bazillion Chinese drivers? Isn't that why China wants the Model 3?
Didn't deliveries start TODAY? - Dec 30?

Tesla set to begin deliveries of China-made Model 3 cars on Dec. 30

Maybe Hond's CEO is asleep at the wheel .... or - maybe it's just that Japan's auto builders are hoping to paint a narritive that's different from reality.
"dramatic increase" ?? So, electric car #'s are increasing what, 4x or 5x faster than hybrids did? That didn't seem to stop Honda from building hybrids.

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I've been saying this for years. American's are caught up in the idea that they need something big, they need something that has 3 row seating, and that ultimately, bigger is better. That bigger vehicles are safer, the ride height offers better view of the road and whats in front of you. A friend of mine is on the market for a new car and I suggested a crossover since her primarily concern is getting stuck in the snow. The car she has her eyes set on is Chevy Tahoe...its just her and her kid...As you pointed out, people have different needs and its logical to pick the right tool for the right job. But Americas getting big SUVs makes no sense when they carting around just a couple kids and do occasional groceries runs seems pointless when you're wasting all that gas and money on lugging around something that big.

I think pop culture has something to do with the change where its uncool to drive anything thats practical, that driving a sedan, the station wagon and mini vans (if you have a big family) is viewed as dorky. That you don't want to drive what your parents drove....

Maybe I'm a little sick in the head, but I legit laugh out loud in my car when I'm watching people with huge SUVs attempting to park, get in and out of spaces and making multi-point turns just to get into a space, or try to clean accumulated snow off their roofs (its illegal in Massachusetts to drive with snow on your roof).

Then I scratch my head when I hear the same owners constantly complain how much it costs to fill at the pump... Right tool for the right job...I feel if you have a big family..its more practical and cost saving to get a mini van. Easier to load car seats and small children into, better mpg and the ride height is almost the same and you still can get an AWD option for some makes.

I remember as a kid, my mom didn't have a huge budget to work with. Her car was a two door Honda Hatchback. She was hauling around myself, my little sister and her boyfriend. Granted it was a pain even as a kid to get into the back seat. But still, the car was practical and it made sense for our uses. My dad had grand mercury marquis. Car was a tank to ride in, but rarely did it get used to its full potential. I feel that alot of typical SUV owners will never use the "Sports" option of their SUV for anything other than going over shopping mall speed bumps.

As far as the EVs for Toyota and Honda. I think the smart idea is to focus on plug in options for now to get people more interested and then eventually mass market EVs when the technology gets better and the infrastructure is there. Even right now, the average American is pretty ignorant towards Hybrids and still have no clue how hybrids operate and work. I can't count how many times I've been asked how my car plugs in, what do i do when I run out of charge, what am I going to do when the battery dies, being told my battery will cost thousands upon thousands to replace once I get past 100,000 miles. And despite facts, articles, web links, customer satisfaction surveys and so on, the majority of Americans will still pick a normal ICE car over a hybrid.

 

maybe they learned their lesson

 

TV, Car, House, meal, waist size ... all bigger.

But not everyone. My son and family just downsized from 3 floors with 6 bedrooms to 2 floors and 4 in a location where the 3 kids can ride the public bus to school. They drive 2 older Prius cars. Just added Solar. Recycle everything and are into buying things with minimal packaging. Even Xmas presents come in reusable bags. I was after my wife to wrap using old newspapers but traditional won.

 

Good for the kids. But it aint just for the male in the homestead to go minimalist. We guys, often need to get permission to do the right thing.

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Actually his wife is leading the charge.

 

The Accord is now full size and the Civic midsize.

 

Buy some xmas themed fabric (perfect time is now when it is on sale).
Make some bags...reuse every year. We have some going on 30 years.

Mike

 

We should all remember that we are still in a transitional phase. We are moving from a technology and energy source we literally built our entire world around (economic, infrastructure, production, transport, etc) to something new. We'd need a few decades of first implementing the newer tech and then the subsequent tear down the old. While battery tech has tremendous potential it still has not realized that full potential yet, and the tech around it still advances. This means that petro tech still offers distinct advantages and conveniences over battery tech. In fact there are probably advantages that petro tech offers that battery tech will never overtake. Now I may sound like a defender of petro tech, but I'm not, in fact my ideal car would be something like a solar powered electric car that I never have to charge or fill up and only need to do basic maintenance on, I just want to point out how as much as people love and push electric and battery tech, we aren't going to switch over night, or even within the decade.

While I wouldn't agree with Honda or Toyota that there's little demand for electric cars, I do approve of their current approach. Namely the push for hybrids and PHEV, particularly PHEVs. They offer the best of the both worlds, the ability to run like an electric car, but also have the fall back of being able to use and access petro tech which is far more widespread. As battery and electric tech improves, we should push for smaller petro engines and bigger and better batteries. We should not be dividing ourselves into the electric or petro crowds, but rather push for the evolution of cars that sees petro slowly move and make way for electric. Who knows, maybe Toyota and their obsessive need to remain plug-less invents a mini nuclear fusion drive system that means you only need to fuel up with hydrogen every 5 years which completely supplants battery tech in vehicles.

 

LOL - don't forget about the insight !

 

The new Insight is a Civic hybrid, so no longer a little car.