TOKYO – Honda Motor Co., which will phase out internal combustion products by 2040, has now unveiled plans to reinvent the company in business areas that are truly out of this world.
Under a roadmap unveiled Sept. 30, the automaker said it will branch into electric air mobility vehicles, avatar robots and even reusable rockets to launch satellites into space.
The rocket ambitions position Honda as a kind of Japanese answer to Elon Musk’s SpaceX aerospace company.
Honda’s new vision expands on CEO Toshihiro Mibe’s efforts to cultivate new businesses as the world shifts toward high-tech carbon neutrality and Honda reimagines its product portfolio.
Earlier this year, Mibe said Honda would go completely gasoline-free by 2040, marking a major transformation for a company that is one of the world’s biggest builders of combustion engines.
Keiji Ohtsu, president of Honda R&D Co., the automaker’s development arm, conceded the new technologies are a test for a company steeped in motorbikes, cars and power products.
“All of the initiatives we introduced today are for the challenges Honda takes on in new areas,” he said.
