Honda’s first EV at least five years away for Australia

Honda has no plans to introduce battery-electric vehicles to Australia in the “medium term” – that is, for at least five years – and will instead prioritise hybrid variants across its range.

In a move that could see Honda as one of the last remaining mainstream brands without an electric car on sale before 2028, Honda Australia director Carolyn McMahon said the company was “continuously monitoring the market” but admitted that “I’m talking five years” before its first EV was likely to launch here.

“Our electrification strategy is all about using hybrid to bridge to electrification in the future and our main focus at the moment is to expand our hybrid technology across every model,” McMahon said.

“We will have a hybrid variant across each nameplate within our line-up. We think hybrid is the right strategy at this point in time; we don’t have any plans at the moment to introduce EV.”

McMahon added that “I wouldn’t say it’s not important for us to get an electric car; I think our strategy at the moment is right for us right now”.

“When we take a look at the Australian readiness or the Australian market’s ability to cope with electric, we don’t think it’s quite yet there,” she said.

“Many of you are writing about infrastructure and government policy and all those types of things.

“The other critical point is our regional and rural Australian market, and for us right now we think hybrid is right.

“That’s not to say Honda won’t be looking at electric vehicles in the future. In the longer term we’ll have models here for Australia but in the medium term we think we’ve got it right with hybrid.”

The Japanese car-maker’s pure-electric offering globally is limited to the funky Honda e city car, but the Honda Prologue family SUV is scheduled for 2024 and the company has committed $A55 billion to developing and releasing 30 pure-electric models globally by 2030.

McMahon confirmed that the forthcoming Honda ZR-V mid-size SUV will feature a range-topping e:HEV LX hybrid variant, adding to hybrid versions of the latest Civic hatch, HR-V small SUV and Accord mid-size sedan.

Toyota had adopted a similar position to Honda on hybrids, however the market-leading brand is now working overtime to get EVs onto the market as demand in Australia ramps up.

Last month, EVs accounted for seven per cent of all new vehicles sold across the nation, with the Tesla Model 3 currently the third-most popular new car in Australia after the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux utes.

Honda was one of the first companies to offer a production hybrid, its Insight first appearing in 1997 and making its local arrival in 2001.

While it was vastly outsold by the Toyota Prius (and was axed in 2014), its eco-credentials were sound, with journalists covering 1003km of city driving from a single 40-litre tank.

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