Most legacy automakers who tried to branch into electric vehicles have had little choice but to pullback on those plans. But for Honda (HMC), the world’s largest manufacturer of gasoline engines, the need to get some kind of electric operation going is more important and more difficult than it is for other automakers.
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While Honda does make engines for gas-powered cars, it also makes them for everything from motorcycles to lawn mowers. Some of the conversions have been comparatively simple. Others, however, have proven much more complex. The result is that Honda is not only behind in its electric push, but it is also dependent on partnership ventures.
Honda is also discovering that changing tastes are not helping matters either the company’s manual transmission vehicles suddenly fell out of favor. With fewer people buying such cars, that left Honda in a much smaller field and trying to make gains in a new market.
Change Underway
Separately, Honda is working on solid-state batteries that the company hopes will double current driving ranges. Formerly, Honda batteries were liquid-state lithium-ion batteries, and now the move to solid-state batteries should improve driving range. Honda’s projections look for double range before 2030, and over 2.5 times the range by 2040.
But Honda is not abandoning the gas lineup altogether. While Dodge is cutting off the Challenger line, Honda is poised to bring out its own version. Reports note that Mitsuoka, a Japanese carmaker, is taking Honda Civics and revamping them to basically look like Dodge Challengers.
Is Honda Stock a Good Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, a look at the last five days in trading for Honda Motor Company stock shows that shares are up overall, but not by much. Shares are up 0.62% over the last five days.
