► Honda announces annual financial results
► Big losses prompt strategy rethink
► New hybrid models teased for 2028
Honda has reported a near-£2bn loss in its latest financial results to the end of March 2026, prompting a drastic rethink to get the brand back on track.
Toshihiro Mibe, director and president of Honda, has confirmed that the Honda brand points to ‘the cancellation of the launch and development of EV models that had been scheduled for production in North America [i.e.: the new Honda 0 Series]’ for the lion’s share of the company’s losses, and has announced a raft of measures to stop the bleeding.
The biggest news is the near-complete dropping its electric vehicle plans, with Honda heavily pivoting towards focusing on hybrid models instead. As well as announcing its results, Honda unveiled two concept cars that preview future hybrid models that will launch within the next two years onwards at its business briefing in mid-May 2026. One is a grey, high-riding saloon which could become the next Accord, while another is an SUV badged as an Acura.
On top of that, Honda has announced that it plans to launch 15 ‘next-generation hybrid models globally by the end of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2030, primarily in North America.’ That means developing a new hybrid architecture for these cars to run on, which aims to be 30 per cent more efficient than its current one, as well as unveiling an all-wheel drive setup for its hybrid SUVs.
Honda has also confirmed that it will be focusing on three ‘priority regions’ as part of its plan for growth, with those being North America, Japan and India. The brand says it will ‘strategically allocate its resources’ to these three areas, with new kei cars and hybrids launching in Japan and bigger cars for the Indian market.
As well as that, Honda has confirmed that it will ‘reallocate all excess capacity at its auto plants in Ohio’, while its joint venture plant with LG will be retooled to manufacture batteries for hybrid cars instead of electric ones.
That said, Honda has also announced that it will continue to work with its partners in China by ‘strengthening its products and cost competitiveness through utilisation of locally-sourced standard components and local next-generation technologies, as well as the introduction of new energy vehicles (NEVs) built on platforms provided by local partners.’ In non-business speak, that means deploying more models like the new Chinese market Insight that uses a local Dongfeng platform.
This news largely comes at the expense of Europe. Honda is reasonably small-fry in the region anyway, but this series of announcements confirms that the brand will remain so in the region. In fact, there isn’t a single mention of Europe in its 2026 business briefing.
All of this is designed to bring the brand back to profitability. Honda predicts these measures will help it resolve its ‘EV-related losses’ and aims to achieve an ‘all-time high’ operating profit by the end of March 2031.
