Honda China head “Masaki Igarashi” said in an interview with Nikkei Business News that “large-scale personnel optimization will be implemented in China” to reduce fixed costs and accelerate the transformation to pure electric vehicles. Prepare.
He said that in 2024, the transformation to new energy vehicles will continue and respond to price reduction competition, adding that “affected by price reductions, it is difficult for fuel vehicles, including hybrids, to be profitable” and “will be through the module (integration) of components.” to reduce costs.”
Referring to previous reports, “Guangqi Honda”, a joint venture jointly established by Honda and Guangzhou Automobile Group, has laid off 900 employees in November 2023 and said it is advancing a new round of layoffs.
In addition, Honda’s main models “Accord” and “CR-V” were forced to cut prices, and some new energy models performed poorly. Igarashi said that it is difficult for electric vehicles to make a profit compared to fuel vehicles and that during the transition period before going all-EV, “we will make full use of the previous earnings and the profits of fuel vehicles to survive.”
Igarashi said Honda will launch new EV factories in Guangzhou and Wuhan within the year. “Due to overall overcapacity, the main issue is how to effectively utilize the EV factory while considering personnel optimization.” He also said, “More than two EV models will be put on the market every year.”
