The 0 Series was supposed to prove the doubters wrong. Then Honda canceled it, and proved them right.
In November 2022, I sat across from Honda's CEO, Toshihiro Mibe. New on the scene and eager to own the future, the CEO talked a big game about Honda's commitment to carbon neutrality and electrification. The linchpin of this transformation, he said, would be the company's partnership with General Motors. In his words, this wasn't a just a badge-job plan to build the Honda Prologue; it was a multi-year partnership between "equals" to develop affordable EVs and conquer tomorrow's auto market.
Three and a half years later, that joint affordable EV plan is a distant blip, another failed launch from a company that still hasn't built a modern, long-range EV itself, let alone an affordable one. When the plan changed in 2024, again, it this time hinged around the 0 Series, a new software-defined vehicle family planned to encompass three U.S.-built models by the end of 2026.
Now those are all dead.
In the press release for this announcement, the company declares its continued commitment to carbon neutrality and electrification. That's what executives there have been telling me for five years, and I've run out of patience. If the company cares about carbon neutrality, it needs to prove it, not just say it. And if it wants any hope of being a real contender in the next era of the automobile, it had better start competing, rather than waiting on the sidelines for competitors to figure things out. By the time they do, it'll be too late for Honda to catch up.
A Long, Embarrassing History
Honda has produced only a few EVs on its own. But the playbook is set, and impressively consistent: Launch a low-volume EV with uncompetitive range, even for its era, sell it in as few markets as possible, and then cancel it when it inevitably fails. Imply to investors that this is why hybrids are the only possible answer.
The Clarity Electric and Fit EV both followed this course, both offering around 80 miles of range, and both only sold in markets like California and Oregon to satisfy a legal requirement for zero-emissions vehicles. The Honda e, the company's cutest EV by far, had a longer run in Europe, but still only about three years before dying due to low sales. The Acura ZDX may not have even been a Honda-a GM product underneath, built by GM at a GM factory-but it died after less than two years on sale, to make room for the 0-Series-based RSX which was due to replace it. That product beat the ZDX's record, dying before it even went on sale.
It is by no means a new trend. When I wrote up my experience with the CEO and other executives in 2022, I titled the piece, "Years Behind, Honda Rushes To Catch Up On EVs."
I regret buying what company executives were selling back then. This time we're serious, they said. We're committed. But since then, there has just been retreat after retreat. They dialed back EV investments and killed the ZDX, all while insisting that the 0 Series would prove the doubters wrong.
Today, they proved us right.