Hey there. Eric Goeres here for Drive Wire on October 25th, 2016.
Today on Drive Wire: Automotive News reports that Honda CEO Takahiro Hachigo wants to see the majority of Honda’s American sales turn to hybrids and electric cars by 2030.
Today, the company offers just one hybrid and zero electric cars, now that the Fit EV, CR-Z, Insight, and Civic Hybrid have been phased out of production.
The CEO believes that by 2030, plug-in electric-hybrid vehicles will make up the core of the American market and that two-thirds of its auto sales worldwide will be full-EV and other hybrid cars. Honda’s luxury brand, Acura, is in a slightly better spot, with the new NSX hybrid-supercar, and a hybrid RLX model soon arriving at dealers. Even still, the Japanese automaker is behind competitors like Toyota and Ford with their EV progress.
It is worth nothing that Honda is one of the few automakers that offers a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. That being the new Clarity, which has a range of 366 miles on a single tank of hydrogen, which is also the longest official range of any zero-emissions vehicle on sale in the United States.
Unfortunately, hydrogen fueling stops are extremely scarce, which means the Clarity would likely have a lot more trouble traveling long distances than a Tesla might, thanks to the electric automaker’s ever-growing network of charging stations. Hybrid and full-electric Clarity models are also on the way, as is a new hybrid Acura MDX.
If Honda really is gunning for domination in the world of electric cars, we would bet the automaker has a few more electric cards up its sleeve.
That’s it for Drive Wire on October 25th, 2016. I’m Eric Goeres; thanks for watching, and please check out The Drive for more on the big stories from the transportation world.