Honda CR-V PHEV ruled out for Australia

In the wake of the oil industry disruption, Aussie appetite for electrified vehicles has well and truly surged, giving big percentage gains to sales of electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs). But despite having a PHEV version of its volume-selling CR-V already in production overseas, Honda Australia says it doesn’t make sense for local showrooms yet.

“We’re constantly talking to the factory, working out what product is available to us,” Honda Australia automotive general manager Nick Parkington said.

“We put our hands up, and if the business case stacks up, those are things that we look at.

“Plug-in hybrid has absolutely got a role to play for some customers, but for us, it’s not on the cards.”

Why not? According to Honda Australia managing director and CEO Jay Joseph, the CR-V PHEV’s origins as a joint-venture product with Chinese auto giant Dongfeng is the primary barrier.

“We’re always considering whether different variants of a model makes sense in a different market – the plug-in hybrid CR-V is made in China for the Chinese market, and there’s some limitations to that,” he told carsales.

“It’s a joint-venture vehicle, which means the benefits of exporting it are half of what they would be with any other vehicle coming from any other market, and that plays into that consideration.”

By ‘benefits’, Joseph really means profit margin. Case in point: while a Chinese-sourced Honda CR-V e:PHEV is available in the UK, it wears an eye-watering on-the-road price tag of £51,400 (roughly AU$97,000) in its most basic form.

Granted, cars in the UK are almost universally dearer than they are in Australia, however in the UK, the CR-V PHEV’s sticker is considered to be on the steep side – but that’s where Honda needs it to be to deliver a meaningful margin in that part of the world.

“These decisions need to be made on longer term planning cycles,” Joseph said.

“What happened [in March], while we would expect that to generally continue throughout the remainder of this calendar year, it’s not wise to react to things that have an unknown duration.”

Though the short- and medium-term prospects for a PHEV Honda appear dim in Australia, the company is still marching toward expelling pure combustion vehicles from its showrooms.

Local leadership confirmed to the media almost all Hondas sold here will be either a hybrid or purely electric before the decade is out.

“I don’t have a definitive timeline, but I’d say it’s not too far away,” Honda Australia director Robert Thorp said.

“I’d say somewhere between [2027 to 2028], it’ll be 100 per cent hybrid [and electric].”

That said, he also confirmed that the brand’s beloved Honda Civic Type R would be the sole exception to that statement.

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