Honda Still Needs Help Making an EV; GM Lends a Hand

• GM and Honda have announced another collaboration to make electric cars.

• GM will make the batteries and drivetrains and Honda will put its own bodies on them.

• Honda's Prologue will go on sale in the U.S. in 2024, followed by an Acura version. Several other Honda EVs are also being developed for the Chinese market.

Honda may seem to some competitors like the indomitable flawless force of auto industry quality perfection, but it has been caught out in the past.

Anyone remember the unholy alliance between Honda and Isuzu in the early ‘90s? Honda somehow missed the obvious-to-everyone-else SUV craze, had no products to offer, and signed a deal to sell Isuzu Rodeos as Honda Passports and Isuzu Troopers as Acura SLXs. In exchange, Honda gave Isuzu versions of the Odyssey minivan that were rebadged as Isuzu Oasis. Any one of those is worth hundreds of dollars to collectors today.

Likewise, Honda was caught out for one of the earlier waves of the ZEV mandate and wound up repurposing its own Honda Fit with a battery pack and electric motor. That was a series limited to just over 1,000 leases, or almost exactly what was required by CARB to meet the ZEV mandate of that era. At the end of the leases, all the e-Fits were gathered back up and never seen again.

Likewise, from about 2008 to 2019, when Honda hesitated to commit to one form of alternative fuel, it offered the bulbous blob of the Honda Clarity as an electric car, plug-in hybrid electric car, and a pure hydrogen fuel-cell car. They sold like cold cakes.

Now, in the latest development in the soap opera, “As Honda Hesitates,” the company has decided it would be better to share development costs on the latest wave of electric cars and has announced an agreement with General Motors to “codevelop affordable EVs targeting the world’s most popular vehicle segments.”

Honda and GM announced in 2018 they would collaborate on EV battery technology, and in April of 2020 that Honda would make an EV based on GM Ultium mechanicals, to be called the Prologue. That car is to go on sale in the U.S. in 2024, followed by an Acura version. Several other Honda EVs are also being developed for the Chinese market.

This latest announcement suggests a more far-reaching collaboration, but with GM doing most of the heavy lifting on batteries, motors and chassis while Honda designs its own bodies to go on top of Ultium mechanicals. The agreement may be a smart cost-saving plan for both companies, or it might just be the latest example of Honda being unable to commit. It’s not like it doesn’t have resources.

Regardless, we here in North America will see the first fruits of these co-ops starting in 2027. No prices or specs were given, but Honda said to look for “millions of EVs.”