Global carmakers have booked over $70 billion in writedowns in the past year as they scale back electric vehicle ambitions on a tough US market under President Donald Trump, price wars in China and a more complex mix of vehicle types in Europe.
The latest to join the growing pile is Japan’s Honda , which on Thursday said it expected a hit of $15.7 billion over the next few years to restructure its EV business.
CEO Toshihiro Mibe said the group would focus on hybrids, echoing moves by peers Stellantis, Ford, General Motors and Volkswagen, which backtracked on their EV ambitions or launched new combustion engine models.
Legacy carmakers are struggling to keep up with new entrants, especially from China, and watered down electrification targets in Europe and in particular the US, a key market where the EV shift has stalled sharply.
Japan’s second-largest automaker said on March 12 it expects to lose 2.5 trillion yen ($15.7 billion) over the next few years as it scraps the development of some planned EV models.
It added that it expects to lose as much as 570 billion yen in the year to the end of March, versus a previous forecast for a profit of 550 billion yen.
The Franco-Italian automaker booked on February 6 its huge writedown, the biggest yet, which it said was linked to rejigging its product lineup to meet consumer demand and new emission regulations in the United States.
The writedown includes payments of approximately 6.5 billion euros expected to be made over the next four years.
The Dearborn, Michigan-based company said in December it would take a $19.5 billion writedown and kill several EV models, and pivot hard into gas and hybrid models instead.
The largest US automaker by sales said in January it would take a $6 billion charge to unwind some electric-vehicle investments, including a $4.2 billion cash charge related to contract cancellations and settlements with suppliers.
Volkswagen, Europe’s top carmaker, said last September it would take a 5.1 billion euro ($6 billion) hit from a far-reaching product overhaul at its Porsche unit, which delayed some EV models in favour of hybrids and combustion engine cars.>
