As subsidies were eliminated and other factors drove a sharp drop in U.S. electric vehicle demand, global automakers are one after another scrapping their EV strategies. Losses related to EVs released by four companies—General Motors (GM), Stellantis, Ford and Honda—have already surpassed 100 trillion won. Hyundai Motor Group also presented in 2019 a goal to sell 850,000 EVs in 2025, but with actual sales falling short of even 600,000, it is shifting its focus to hybrid vehicles.
According to the auto industry on the 16th, Honda said on the 12th that it would cancel U.S. production and launches of the sedan and sport utility vehicle (SUV) under its new EV brand "0 Series," as well as the premium electric SUV "Acura RSX." In September last year, it halted production—after just one year—of the electric crossover "Acura ZDX," which it had been producing in the United States in collaboration with General Motors (GM), and less than half a year later it added another discontinued model.
Honda had pursued an aggressive EV expansion policy, including setting a goal to sell only EVs and hydrogen cars starting in 2040. But on this day, Honda President Mibe Toshihiro said of that goal, "I think it will be difficult to realistically achieve," adding, "First, we will stop the bleeding." Instead, Honda decided to increase hybrids, and it estimated that this strategic shift would result in losses of up to 2.5 trillion yen (about 23.4 trillion won, $15.7 billion) by fiscal 2026.
There are more companies shouldering massive losses as they roll back EV strategies. GM stopped EV production at its Michigan plant and converted it to an internal combustion engine assembly line, incurring facility-related expense. It also ended Canadian production of the electric commercial van "BrightDrop," leading to a $7.6 billion loss in just the third and fourth quarters last year.
In addition, Ford, which halted production of the electric pickup "F-150 Lightning," said it expects $19.5 billion in losses, and Stellantis, which canceled launches including the electric pickup "Ram 1500 BEV" and revived internal combustion engines, said it expects $26 billion in losses. The total losses released so far by the four corporations, including Honda, due to scaling back EV plans amount to $68.8 billion (about 102.4 trillion won). Automotive News said, "These losses reflect that the EV market has not developed as much as automakers anticipated years ago."
Hyundai Motor Group is also moving to revise its EV strategy. In 2019, Hyundai Motor said in its "EV Strategy Direction" materials that it had set a target of selling more than 560,000 EVs in 2025. Including Kia, the groupwide EV sales target at the time was presented as more than 850,000 units in 2025. In 2023, it also released "Hyundai Motor Way," which included plans to raise EV sales to 2 million units in 2030 and invest 109.4 trillion won in EV transition by 2032.
But changes have been detected since. At the 2024 "CEO Investor Day," Hyundai Motor kept its 2030 target of 2 million EVs while beginning to shift weight to hybrids. It decided to expand hybrids from seven models to 14 and to offer a hybrid option on all Genesis models except EV-only models.
At last year's CEO Investor Day, it newly presented future targets as "eco-friendly vehicles," combining both EVs and hybrids, rather than EVs alone. It set eco-friendly vehicle sales at 3.3 million units in 2030 but did not disclose a separate EV target. The EVs Hyundai Motor Group sold last year totaled 528,000 units—272,000 for Hyundai Motor and 256,000 for Kia. That fell far short of the 850,000 target presented in 2019.
However, it will be difficult for global automakers, including Hyundai Motor Group, to abandon EVs altogether. Citing experts, Automotive News said, "U.S. federal regulations (including the elimination of subsidies) could change again under a new administration, and that could lead to cost reductions and lower consumer prices, so automakers will continue to invest in EVs and battery development."