Honda Reports First Loss Since 1957

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Honda recorded its first annual loss since listing on the stock exchange in 1957, impacted by the costs of restructuring its electric vehicle (EV) business.

As reported by Arena EV on Friday, in its fiscal year report ending in March, Honda booked an operating loss of 414.3 billion yen, or approximately 45.9 trillion rupiah. In the previous period, the company still recorded a profit of 1.2 trillion yen, or the equivalent of 133 trillion rupiah.

The losses related to Honda’s EV business throughout the year reached 1.45 trillion yen, or approximately 160.8 trillion rupiah. The company also expects to incur additional costs of around 500 billion yen, or 55 trillion rupiah, for its EV business in the next fiscal year.

Despite this, Honda is optimistic that it can return to profitability of 500 billion yen this year through cost efficiency measures and contributions from its motorcycle business, which recorded its highest sales.

Honda CEO, Toshihiro Mibe, said the company is now canceling its target for EV sales to account for one-fifth of new car sales by 2030. Honda is also postponing its target to fully switch to EV and fuel cell sales by 2040.

In addition, Honda has decided to postpone its 9 billion euro, or 183 trillion rupiah, EV project in Canada until an unspecified date. The project was previously designed to produce EVs and batteries locally in Canada.