A Prologue to Disaster

The word prologue means an introduction to something – and that is just what the “Honda” Prologue (which is in fact an EV made by GM that Honda tried to re-sell but couldn’t) is proving to be.

As in, an introduction  . . . to bankruptcy.

Honda just announced its first losses since the 1950s – and also its worst losses ever, to the tune of $7 billion.

That is what comes of giving the EV Tar Baby a big hug. Unfortunately, Honda doesn’t want to stop hugging. Honda released the following statement in the wake of the announcement the other day about the massive losses it has incurred:

“In such a difficult competitive environment, Honda was unable to deliver products that offer value for money better than that of newer EV manufacturers, resulting in a decline in competitiveness.”

It is “an extremely challenging earnings situation.”

This reads much like the statement attributed to the Emperor Hirohito that was issued in the summer of 1945 about the war situation not having developed necessarily to Japan’s advantage. 

It misses the point altogether. It is not that Honda “was unable to deliver products that offer value for money better than that of newer EV manufacturers.” It is that EVs are money pits, for the manufacturer as well as the buyer (viz, regarding the latter, the 30 percent greater depreciation over five years for EVs vs. vehicles that do not need a new $10,000 battery after eight years).

Why else would Honda be cancelling the Prologue – according to news reports – after less than three years on the (sic) market?

How much money has Honda lost buying the Prologue EV from GM and then trying to re-sell the thing? That is the relevant question. Fools will say: But Honda sold nearly 40,000 Prologues in 2025, which is true. It is also true that much of that was something like the effect of pouring some gas on a concrete floor and lighting it in that there will be a fire – briefly – until the fuel is burned. The “fuel” in this case was the $7,500 federal tax credit and more finely, the announcement earlier in 2025 that it was going away. It is possible to sell more of a thing when it is sold at a steep discount. But selling things that way tends to end up where Honda finds itself now.

If the Prologue weren’t a loser of money – if EVs weren’t hurtling Honda toward the edge of bankruptcy – then why has Honda cancelled it? Why is Honda also cancelling a whole slew of EVs – hilariously styled the 0 Series? Zero being a working shorthand for nothing.

The aborted 0 lineup was to include a 0 Series sedan and a 0 Series crossover as well as a battery-powered iteration of the  Acura (Honda’s luxury line) RDX.

Depending on which source you go with, the estimated losses – so far – of this bum’s rush to “electrify” everything on wheels has cost the industry more than $100 billion and it is certain that there will be more to come. A whole slew of new EVs is just now leaving the pipeline; models such as Hyundai’s new-for-2026 Ioniq 9, which is reviewed here if you’re interested.

It and others exiting the pipeline have been in the pipeline for about three or four years, which is roughly how long it takes to get a new vehicle from concept to production. These new EVs were being conceptualized at a time when the Biden Thing was still falling down the stairs of Air Force One and Michael Regan was the head of the EPA and the so-called “endangerment finding” was effectively forcing every vehicle manufacturer to design new EVs that qualified as zero emissions (of C02) vehicles.

That’s all gone now – and thus, these new EVs exit the pipeline into a world not made for them. It is not just the ending of regulatory compliance pressure – and the ending of the federal tax credit kickback. It is that EV Fever has cooled as people come to understand what living with an EV means. Especially as regards the time cost – the having to regularly sit and wait for half an hour or longer at a charging kiosk multiple times a week (or road trip) when you could have just been driving somewhere you needed to be, such as home.

There is also the literal cost.

At a time when most Americans are paying $4 for a gallon of gas (again) and 30 percent more for groceries (soon) it is an untenability to pay $20,000 more for an EV vs. an otherwise similar vehicle that does not impose any time costs as all (viz, the Hyundai Palisade vs. the Ioniq 9).

Perhaps the biggest cost of all is psychological – in that Honda (and it is not just Honda) seems unable to grasp that battery powered vehicles are something profoundly worse than say the Ford Edsel or the Pontiac Aztek, which failed chiefly because they were ugly rather than because they weren’t viable as vehicles.

Honda is still ” . . .moving forward as part of our joint venture partnership with LG Energy Solution to localize production of hybrid batteries and Energy Storage Systems at L-H Battery Company in Jeffersonville, Ohio.” 

Just as Ford is still “moving  forward” with plans to bring out another battery-powered pickup after the epic fail of the F-150 Lightning pickup. This time will be different, appears to be the thinking.

It smacks of Voting Harder, doesn’t it?

 . . .

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