Honda Joins GM to Build Electric SUV in 2024

American Honda Motor Co. will begin an era of electrification starting with the Honda Prologue SUV in 2024, built in conjunction with Detroit-based General Motors Co., announced Dave Gardner, executive vice president in an official blog post Monday.
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Honda, in conjunction with General Motors Co., has announced its first battery-electric vehicle, the Prologue. // Courtesy of Honda
Honda, in conjunction with General Motors Co., has announced its first battery-electric vehicle, the Prologue. // Courtesy of Honda

American Honda Motor Co. will begin an era of electrification starting with the Honda Prologue SUV in 2024, built in conjunction with Detroit-based General Motors Co., announced Dave Gardner, executive vice president in an official blog post Monday.

The name reflects the vehicles position in Honda’s planned lineup of EVs, with the company continuing to develop more vehicles in the second half of the decade based on its e:Architecture framework.

Garner says the Prologue will be able to meet the diverse needs of customers, providing a competitive product in price and performance to other vehicles in its class. He says Honda is ensuring the advancement of solid-state batteries through independent research, which will be less expensive to produce and have a higher capacity. Gardner says the company aims to make solid-state batteries available by the end of the decade.

“Our focus on the complete reduction of CO2 emissions relates to two of the fundamentals behind everything we do at Honda,” Gardner says. “That means Respect for the Individual, our human-centered approach to business, and our respect for the environment, evidenced by Honda’s longstanding commitment to reducing the environmental impact of our products and operations.”

Near term goals for the company include introducing a higher percentage of hybrids to its core models. Gardner says people who have good experiences with hybrid vehicles are likely to trust and buy a battery electric vehicle.

In April, the company’s global CEO Toshihiro Mibe announced the entire lineup of Honda vehicles will be BEVs by 2040, scaling up from 40 percent by 2030, and 80 percent by 2035 before reaching the goal of 100 percent.

Honda released the EV Plus in 1995, the Insight became the first hybrid in the U.S. in 1999, and more recently, the Honda Clarity series has been the company’s primary electrification project.

“This experience also puts us in a leadership position in systems integration and management technology that we apply to other powertrains and is key to the battery- and fuel cell-electric vehicles,” Gardner says.

The relationship with GM includes battery co-development, vehicle co-development, and a joint venture focused on the development and production of fuel cell technology for vehicles and other applications.