Honda could be reversing course on plans for an affordable electric vehicle, and may even build it in the U.S., according to a new report by Nikkei.
The report says Honda plans to launch a small EV costing less than $30,000 in the U.S., as early as next year. This new EV will also reportedly be U.S.-built, likely to avoid new tariffs on imported vehicles expected to be instituted by the Trump Administration.
Honda 0 Saloon prototype
The sub-$30,000 EV would be the smallest and cheapest of the Honda 0 Series, set to comprise seven models by the end of the decade, on a global scale. Honda recently previewed what it said were the first two 0 Series models with its Saloon (sedan) and SUV prototypes at CES 2025.
At CES, Honda said a production version of the SUV prototype would arrive in the first half of 2026, with the sedan following later in the year. They’ll be built in Ohio, where Honda already produces gasoline cars, alongside the Acura RSX electric SUV and the Afeela 1 electric sedan from the Sony Honda Mobility joint venture. The Acura is due later this year, while the Afeela is scheduled to arrive in 2026 like the Honda-branded models.
Honda 0 SUV prototype
American Honda declined comment regarding the report.
To prepare for mass EV production in the U.S., Honda is retooling three of its existing plants and creating a $3.5 billion battery plant. The automaker has emphasized throughout that the mix of EV and gasoline-vehicle production is market-dependent, but indicated in 2024 that it would be able to build hundreds of EVs per day at its revamped Marysville Auto Plant in Ohio, potentially surpassing all but Tesla’s production rate.
Whether a sub-$30,000 EV will be among the vehicles produced in Ohio next year remains to be seen. At CES 2024, Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe told DriftBreath Reports that the automaker would like to realize an affordable EV “very late in the 2020s” and that a circa-$30,000 price point would likely be dependent on breakthroughs in battery tech, specifically solid-state batteries.
