Honda Comes From Nowhere & Scores Large EV Gross sales In USA

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I’ve coated the US EV gross sales outcomes of a number of auto firms this month as third quarter gross sales knowledge have come out. A number of firms have seen hovering EV gross sales progress, whereas others have seen huge drops in EV gross sales. And, even inside firms, some fashions are up so much whereas others are down so much. Nonetheless, there was one firm that shocked me a bit however I didn’t know what to make of it, so I held off a bit earlier than writing about it. That firm, in fact, is Honda.

Ford EV gross sales grew 12% within the third quarter (Q3), particularly backed by Ford F-150 Lightning gross sales rising 105%, to 7,162 gross sales. The Ford Mustang Mach-E noticed a slight decline in gross sales, nevertheless it was nonetheless the best promoting non-Tesla EV within the nation, with 13,392 gross sales within the third quarter. However right here’s the wild information: the Honda Prologue got here out of nowhere to virtually take that title from the Mustang Mach-E. The Honda Prologue scored 12,644 gross sales within the third quarter.

A part of what surprises me is that the Prologue is sort of recent in the marketplace. Simply 19 models have been delivered within the first quarter, then 1,516 have been delivered within the second quarter, after which — growth — 12,644 deliveries! That’s a quick soar from nowhere by way of meh to wow!

One other factor that surprises me about it’s that Honda has been seen as an enormous EV laggard for a number of years. It averted growing an electrical automobile for a decade. It sullied its title amongst many EV followers and followers. Nonetheless, apparently, its for much longer status as a frontrunner in gas effectivity and hybrids made it a straightforward promote to get prospects into its first severe full electrical car. And I do know there are additionally these sorts of patrons who particularly waited for his or her favourite model (and Honda is that for many individuals) to get into the EV recreation. Possibly what this outcome exhibits is simply how robust the Honda model continues to be with much less gas-guzzling-minded patrons. (That mentioned, given the scale of Honda, we must always hope for continued quick progress of EV gross sales and a a lot increased proportion of its gross sales coming from EVs.)

However there’s another reason this excessive gross sales outcome surprises me a bit. Our personal Kyle Area drove and reviewed the Honda Prologue earlier this yr. In March, Kyle wrote, “The Prologue EV is constructed on prime of GM’s Ultium platform and makes use of a ton of GM’s battery and powertrain elements, to the purpose that it looks like a GM car with a Honda shell on prime. Honda opted to to companion with GM on the Prologue EV to speed up the time to marketplace for its first production-scale electrical car. This additionally offers Honda the flexibility to study from Normal Motors’ expertise to see what facets of the electrical car expertise resonate with Honda as a model and Honda’s prospects on the identical time.” In different phrases, actually, the Prologue shouldn’t be a Honda at its core and is nothing particular. It’s possible you’ll as effectively purchase a Chevy Equinox — nevertheless it seems about 3,000 extra individuals purchased a Honda Prologue than a Chevy Equinox!

There are a pair extra issues as effectively. For one, maybe Honda simply had sufficient demand constructed up for an EV that it had an extended record of people that jumped on the Prologue as soon as it was accessible to them and gross sales will fall off sooner or later. (I don’t actually assume that’s the case, and hope it’s not, nevertheless it’s one risk.) One other factor is that I’ve heard Honda’s pushing some nice offers on the Prologue, and I’ve seen many adverts for it myself. Maybe Honda is genuinely making an attempt arduous to get gross sales of the Prologue flowing and needs to rapidly turn into an EV chief within the nation.

Maybe Honda simply is aware of methods to bundle a automobile at a aggressive price and promote it to prospects. Possibly Honda’s simply higher at promoting automobiles, and that features the considerably mediocre Prologue. I suppose I haven’t actually hidden my opinion on the Prologue, however I’ll be sincere, it’s simply not one of many prime EVs I’d advocate to somebody trying to get into an electrical automobile for the primary time. There are a number of others I’d advocate forward of it. However possibly I ought to put the Prologue increased up the record. After already turning into the fifth greatest promoting electrical automobile within the nation, there’s a stable probability it rises to 4th and even third within the subsequent quarter. We’ll see. Both method, although, it’s prone to stay within the prime 10. We’ll see the place it goes from right here.