Honda Motor Co said it will produce electric vehicles at two Chinese units, and will launch sales in that country as early as next year, the Nikkei said, citing company sources.
The company is set to launch the electric vehicles — likely to be subcompacts — in Japan and the U.S. sometime next year, the business daily reported.
“We have to launch them in China as well,” said Honda director Seiji Kuraishi, who takes charge of the company’s Chinese operations, without divulging a date, the paper reported.
The vehicles, to be built at the company’s Wuhan and Guangzhou plants, are likely to hit the Chinese market in 2012 or 2013, the Nikkei said.
Honda hopes to procure parts of motors and batteries locally to bring down costs and is expected to become the first major Japanese automaker to build electric cars in China, the newspaper said.
The Chinese government has been promoting the spread of electric vehicles by offering incentives including subsidies to buyers, the Nikkei said.
Nissan Motor Co is conducting tests jointly with the Wuhan city government, but has not yet set a release date, the business daily said. Similarly, Toyota Motor Corp said it has plans to enter China’s electric vehicle market, but has no specific plans at this time, the newspaper reported.
