Acura, Honda’s luxury division, plans to introduce hybrid models as part of its North American lineup, shifting strategy in response to slowing electric vehicle (EV) demand and growing consumer interest in hybrids, company executives said.
“Customer demand, it’s not realistic to only focus on EVs moving forward,” American Honda chief executive Kazuhiro Takizawa told The Drive at Monterey Car Week. “We will max production of ICE and hybrid models to meet the needs of our customers in North America. This means extending key ICE models and adding hybrid products. Our strategy to invest in flexible production in our EV hub in Ohio is proving very smart. This will enable us to make ICE, hybrid, and EV models on the same production lines, and adjust production fluidly based on customer demands.”
Takizawa cautioned that Acura hybrids will not arrive immediately due to engineering requirements. “When you change the powertrain, with crash tests and all those things we have to start from scratch,” he said. “Our engineers say it’s quite difficult. But of course, it’s not impossible, and we have that technology, so it’s just a matter of lead time and development of the models. To have a new vehicle, we usually need four years or more. [With] this lead time, we need to wait. Once we made our decision, it still takes several years. So it’s just a matter of time.”
In a separate interview with Automotive News, Acura senior managing director and Honda’s chief officer of automotive operations, Katsushi Inoue, said hybrids have “always been an option, but now we are taking this option very seriously.” He did not specify which Acura models could adopt hybrid powertrains but indicated the company is evaluating both existing vehicles and potential new hybrid models.