Honda producing next BEV for China
Honda plans to develop more than 20 electrified vehicle models for the Chinese market by 2025. Following the previously introduced battery-electric VE-1, this year another BEV designed with car-sharing services in mind will follow. Further details have not been announced yet.
Furthermore, according to Gasgoo, electric models jointly developed by the joint venture Dongfeng Honda and Honda Motor China Technology will also be launched on the market this year. Other models equipped with Honda’s Sport Hybrid i-MMD (Intelligent Multi-Mode Drive) hybrid drive are also planned, as well as a plug-in hybrid system based on the i-MMD to follow in the coming year.
In November, the Japanese first put the VE-1 in the spotlight at the Guangzhou Motor Show. This marks Honda’s first electric model for the Chinese market. The compact SUV, which is based on the Honda HR-V, is the production version of the Everus EV concept presented at Auto China in April. The VE-1 is to be used, among other things, in the Chinese electric carsharing service Reachda, in which Honda itself is also involved. So far, Reachda has mainly relied on electric cars from Changan.
At the end of October, Honda also announced the planned construction of a joint China plant with GAC for the production of electric cars and plug-in hybrids. The production facility is to have capacities for 170,000 vehicles per year. It also appears that the joint venture is planning to produce the electric compact SUV Trumpchi GS4 from GAC there and sell it via Honda, so that the Japanese carmaker can quickly reach the required quantities for the electric vehicle quota that will come into force in China next year. It appears to be a copy of an almost identical deal between GAC and Toyota.
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