Acura Changes Its Approach After Discovering That Relying Solely on EVs Won’t Be Enough | Carscoops

      The head of American Honda states that it is unrealistic for a brand to overlook the demand for increased hybrid options.

      Acura is shifting away from a solely electric vehicle future due to low customer interest.

      Executives confirm that hybrids are now a significant component of the brand's evolving strategy.

      Future hybrid offerings could feature updates to existing Acura models as well as entirely new nameplates.

      Despite ongoing growth in electric vehicle sales, the increase has not matched the expectations of some industry experts and automakers. Consequently, a growing number of brands are focusing on hybrids, which they view as a crucial bridge between traditional internal combustion engines (ICEs) and electric vehicles (EVs). Acura is the latest manufacturer to adopt this approach.

      While Honda, Acura’s parent company, has a range of hybrid models, Acura has historically focused on ICEs and EVs, largely neglecting hybrid powertrains. Now, American Honda's CEO Kazuhiro Takizawa has recognized that it is “not realistic” to concentrate solely on EVs due to customer demand.

      “We will maximize production of ICE and hybrid models to cater to our North American customers,” he informed The Drive at Monterey Car Week. “This involves extending key ICE models and introducing hybrid products. Our strategy to invest in flexible production at our EV hub in Ohio is proving to be very wise. This will allow us to manufacture ICE, hybrid, and EV models on the same production lines and adjust production dynamically according to customer requirements.”

      However, customers shouldn't anticipate seeing hybrids from Acura in the near future. When asked why Acura doesn't simply adapt the hybrid powertrain of the Civic for models like the Integra, Takizawa acknowledged that significant vehicle overhauls typically take several years.

      “It’s not just an engine swap,” he explained. “When you change the powertrain, with crash tests and other factors, we have to start from scratch. [Our engineers] say it’s quite challenging. But it's not impossible, and we certainly have the technology; it’s just a matter of lead time and development. It usually takes four years or more to have a new vehicle ready. Given this lead time, we need to wait. Once a decision is made, it still requires several years, so it’s really a matter of time.”

      In a separate discussion with Auto News, Katsushi Inoue, Acura's senior managing director and chief officer of automotive operations at Honda Motor Co, mentioned that hybrids have “always been an option, but we are now taking this option very seriously.”

      He did not detail which Acura models might feature hybrid powertrains, but he noted that the automaker is considering incorporating hybrids into current models as well as exploring potential all-new hybrid offerings.