As a metric of just how much damage the push to “electrify” everything on wheels has caused, it’s hard to surpass Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe’s announcement the other day that Honda – Honda! – suffered its first-ever money-losing year last year.
“The outlook is very challenging. However, we would like to explain the circumstances leading to this management decision and the future direction for rebuilding the mid-to long-term strategy for our automobile business,” he said.
The EV transition, it turns out, has developed not necessarily to Honda’s (or anyone else’s) advantage – echoing the statement about how the war was going, issued by Japanese Emperor Hirohito on August 15, 1945.
Honda – like a number of other vehicle manufacturers that drank the EV Kool Aid – has cancelled several pending EVs that had been scheduled to make their debut this year, including the entire “0” series. It turns out zero will be made, which is better than zero dollars being earned (and many dollars probably lost).
“We made this decision with a heavy heart, believing that introducing these three models to market without an outlook for business viability may lead to an early discontinuation of production, which could cause a concern and inconvenience to our customers as a result of potential damage to the value of the Honda brand.”
The Prologue – Honda’s first EV – is also the first Honda to be cancelled after just three years of availability. It ought never to have seen the light of day – and not just because it’s another over-priced ($40k to start) crossover that goes half as far as $25k gas-engined crossovers and tethers its owner to a charge cord – but also because it wasn’t even a Honda. It was a reskinned Chevy Blazer EV, with some trim/feature tweaks. This saved Honda some money, by not wasting it on R&D’ing its own EV – but it also arguably damaged Honda’s brand, something far more costly. Some will remember when GM got in big trouble for putting Chevy (and Oldsmobile) engines in Cadillacs. Not that Chevy or Oldsmobile engines were bad engines; they were not. The point is that Cadillac customers were paying Cadillac money for a Cadillac; not Cadillac bodywork with Chevy/Oldsmobile mechanicals. There were lawsuits and buy-backs.
Honda hasn’t had to face that – yet – probably because the Prologue has been a sales fiasco for Honda, especially after the $7,500 federal tax credit got yanked. In the fourth quarter of 2025 – just after that happened – Honda was able to offload just 2,641 Prologues.
The deeper problem is that Honda forgot what Honda was once synonymous with – that being sensible and affordable transportation. The company began – after the war that developed not necessarily to Japan’s advantage – making scooters and small motorcycles that very quickly became very popular, precisely because they were sensible and affordable as well as exceptionally well-made relative to the competition. Then came the cars, which were hugely successful for the same reasons.
“Honda” became synonymous with value.
The cars were also fun-to-drive; ask anyone who owned an early Civic. The great gas mileage was of course the main draw, which brings us up to why “electrified” Hondas have proved to be such a drag. A 1975 Civic was capable of 40-plus MPG. Its tank held about ten gallons of gasoline. That meant you could drive a ’75 Civic roughly 400 miles before you had to stop for more gas. In other words, more than 50 years ago, a $2,200 Civic (that was the car’s base price) could be driven about 40 percent farther than a $40,000 Prologue can go today. The ’75 Civic made good sense; the Prologue is the apotheosis of nonsense.
More finely, it is the apotheosis of unimaginative thinking. It is a copy, first of all – and that’s the apotheosis of unoriginality. Second of all, it is also just like everything else. This is true of pretty much every EV so far, with the exception – possibly – of the Slate EV that’s supposed to be coming out later this year sometime. The Slate – a small. modular electric truck that can be converted into an SUV – at least manifests some imaginative thinking, some originality. Why didn’t Honda come up with something different? Perhaps something sensible and affordable – like the original ’75 Civic?
Adjusted for inflation, the ’75 Civic’s $2,200 base price works out to about $14k today. Imagine if Honda had put together a little commuter car like that today? One that got 60 miles per gallon – because unlike the ’75, it would have overdrive gearing as well as a more efficient, fuel-injected engine – and could take you 600 miles on a tankful?
If Honda had something like that to offer buyers, Mibe would not be having to discuss the “challenging outlook” Honda is facing right now.
Instead, the “challenges” are probably just beginning – because Honda’s senior management is still in the grip of EV Fever:
“Honda made the decision” to cancel the 0 Series “with a strong determination that taking initiatives toward the realization of carbon neutrality is a responsibility Honda, as a mobility company, has to take.”
Italics added.
Honda no longer even sees itself as a car company – which may explain why it is having “challenges” selling them.
. . .
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[…] https://www.ericpetersautos.com/2026/05/12/hondas-first-ever-money-losing-year/ […]
On the advice of its shaman, Honda repented of its manifold sins and wickedness by hanging three 2026 Honda Passport TrailSport vehicles, Iranian style, from a 140-foot crane at its proving center in Cantil, Calif.
https://ibb.co/rG2TY9T3
California attorney general Rob Bonta threatened charges of vehicle cruelty.
‘vehicle manufacturers drank the EeeVee Kool-Aid’ — eric
Some even drank the autonomous, self-driving Kool-Aid — to their regret:
‘Waymo is recalling software in thousands of its driverless taxis that could allow the vehicles to drive into flooded roadways, according to a letter from the NHTSA.
‘Waymo said it decided to recall the software last month after an unoccupied car entered a flooded road during a heavy downpour in San Antonio on April 20. Even though the road was “untraversable,” the vehicle proceeded at a reduced speed, the saaaaafety agency noted in a report last week.
‘According to Waymo, the software will be fixed without interrupting the taxi service, since it can be updated when the vehicles return to a depot for regular maintenance and recharging. Waymo has paused public service for rides in San Antonio.
‘The recall is one in a string of incidents that have called into question the safety of self-driving cars as they proliferate across major American cities. Waymo says its technology statistically outperforms humans, reducing the chance of crashes and the resulting serious injuries.’ — NYT
https://archive.ph/vJq4W#selection-847.2-851.101
I’m prepared to believe that self-driving statistically outperforms humans, since it does not experience distraction, attention lapses, or entrainment by the jungle beat of boogie music and flaking out [Boogie, chillun!].
Yet computers are profoundly stupid. As Waymo just revealed, they don’t grok flash floods. Nor will they understand armed Mad Max rioters barricading the roads, when aggrieved Americans finally rebel against Israel’s Trump quisling regime.
I’d rather take muh chances on my own feeble abilities, rather than letting a Boeing MCAS algorithm crash me into a mountainside because it hijacked the elevators and overrode my inputs. Drive by wire = die in fire.
My devoutly Catholic grandfather had an early 80s Accord that he loved. He owned several Triumphs, Cadillacs, Mercedes and other valuable iron, but the car he loved the most was that Accord.
I had three Hondas, a 91 Accord coupe, a 91 Prelude and a 96 EK Civic hatchback. All handled brilliantly, sipped gasoline parsimoniously, had great visibilty thanks to low sills and were as reliable as Swiss watches.
The new Hondas leave me cold with their turbos and dull personalities. Honda was always known as an innovator, but how is following the herd on fake, gay wnd retarded EVs innovative?
I would honestly love to see economy cars come back. The market will have to drive all this because the government has no interest in see what’s best for you or your budget happen. People will have to feel the pain of all the profligate spending on throw away junk. The reason the original Civic was so successful is people instantly recognized the value of buying something reliable. But it was because they were already frugal, buying when they had the money and fixing things as long as possible. Pointing out the fallacy with regards to cars is fine but it’s a cultural and social change that has to happen for any of it to make sense and stick.
Discontinue your best selling vehicle, just brilliant I say, brilliant!
https://www.motortrend.com/news/gas-porsche-macan-production-ending-2026
Germans have succumbed to a deranged climate cult.
Before that, it was the Hitler cult. And earlier still, in the late 19th century, the Prussian cult which gave us the modern welfare state.
Something is fundamentally defective in the mentality of this Teutonic tribe. I get to say this because about half my ancestry is German. I coulda been a contendahhh … 🙁
When Gasoline hit $10 sometime in September, EVs will suddenly be economical and sales will explode. When gasoline hits $20 by June 2027, only EVs will be selling! Our bright future until the powergrid collapses under EVs and Data Centers sometime during the grest heatwave of 2028
Why not just say gasoline will hit $200 in 2027? I mean, if your going to be ridiculous… Question: where do you think the energy that charges the EV batteries comes from? Hint: fossil fuel burning power plants. So if we have $20 gasoline, we will also have sky high electric bills.
Question: where do you think the energy that charges the EV batteries comes from?
The holes in the wall, obviously!
Simmer down, Francis….
Doom porn is all fun and conjecture, but always look to the past to see what happens in the future…
My prediction is that, if for no other reason than (s)elections this fall, gas will drop precipitously over the next year…the past has demonstrated this phenomenon.
However, I could be wrong, we are, as the Chinese say,” living in interesting times”, so always hedge for the worst.
So then make sure, like me, you have no car payments, so you can spend that car payment $$$ on gasoline instead
Viva La Benzene!!!
When you have no real counter argument – lead with the name calling. That has become very popular here lately.
I had an ’82 Honda Accord — first car I ever bought on my own credit (no co-signers).
Living in southeastern Michigan at the time, it got a lot of dirty looks (and even some vandalism).
It was a visible sign of the rise of Japan Inc and the demise of the Big Three.
Fantastic car, economical, reliable.
Wish I still had it.
I had a 1979 Corolla. That car was bulletproof until it was stolen 30 years later. I’m sure it’s still running around somewhere.
Have we got a deal for you —
‘CEO Scott Keogh has defended Scout’s bet on robust battery-powered trucks and SUVs like the Terra pickup and Traveler SUV, especially the gas-powered range-extender versions announced in October 2024. While they weren’t part of the original plan, they have attracted 87% of the 170,000 pre-orders.
‘It looks like Volkswagen is taking a page from Tesla’s and Rivian’s book by taking Scout Motors public and pitching it as a high-valuation EV startup. However, it remains to be seen if that’s realistic when the U.S. EV market is in decline. Rivian’s IPO, for example, took place at the height of the EV boom in 2021, raising $11.8 billion for the company.’
https://www.autoblog.com/news/volkswagens-scout-motors-could-go-public-before-its-trucks-reach-buyers
EeeVee Fever, like Disco Fever, was an ephemeral moment. Scout Motors is a cargo cult:
‘Cargo cults are 19th-20th century Melanesian spiritual-political movements arising from colonial encounters, where indigenous groups performed rituals, such as building mock runways or marching, to attract Western manufactured goods (“cargo”) they believed were sent by ancestors. During WWII when U.S. military supplies arrived, cultists interpreted the wealth as divine and expected its return through imitative behavior.’
Elon became the world’s richest lifeform, thanks to Tesla. Years later, deluded imitators such as Scout Motors think investors are going to shower them with money for building ‘range extender’ EeeVees.
Punters can reserve a Scout Motors vehicle for $100. More than 90 percent of those 170,000 pre-orders will go poof when it’s time to pay the $60,000 balance.
Investors should ask, where is the edge? China can build anything Scout Motors makes, at two-thirds the cost. EeeVees are a small, stagnant market segment in the US. Why should this dusty setup make anyone rich?
I have owned 8 Hondas the most recent of which two are sitting in my garage right now. I have raved about the value that they have afforded me to the point that four other people own Hondas because of my endorsement
If Hondas management loses its way it will prove my theory that deep within mans genome their is a cell that drive him to “kill the goose that laid the golden egg” and the rest of us will have to live with that in born human flaw.
Need a chuckle? Next gen car idea.
https://xkcd.com/3244/
Those 75/6 Civics were 6 year old cars when I was in high school. I flipped a couple of them, they were great, much quieter and quicker than the air cooled VWs I usually flipped. And somehow, they didn’t FEEL tiny, partly because of thin shells, thin seats, and the hatchback, there was a lot of space to move around in. The carbs were a nightmare compared to the VW Solexes or even a Quadrajet, but still worked very well and were repairable. The CVCC passed all the era smog requirements without a catalytic converter.
Unfortunately you can’t mass produce and sell such an innovative, buyer driven product in a place with a communist/fascist/totalitarian government. I remember being appalled at the Yugo being so much worse, and yet in the Soviet world such crap was only available to the privileged “rich”. And the ultra rich got Zil/Zis/41 Packards, hand built in boutique factories.
Damn the totalitarians. Damn them.
“Adjusted for inflation, the ’75 Civic’s $2,200 base price works out to about $14k today.”
Don’t forget the compliance costs – airbags, stricter emissions controls, etc. required today that that ’75 Civic didn’t have. I Googled the base price of a 2026 Civic and found out that the base price is just under $25K, which sounds about right. I’d say that if they can keep doing that, Honda’s doing about the best they can. What needs to happen is that Uncle Sam needs to remove the compliance requirements, which would help drive down the cost.
Honda became bigger when they introduced an affordable car with great fuel economy at the same time that gas prices were spiking. Unbeknownst (apparently) to Honda is that very expensive cars combined with limited range and extended recharging times wouldn’t sell.
Who would have thunk it!!
Sadly, even if Honda wanted to sell the original Civic again; they couldn’t due to GovCo regulations. Until a lot of these regulations are rolled back we’re looking at an era of $30K economy cars with a 84 month payment plan.