Hints of Honda s future: five questions with CEO Takahiro Hachigo

Five questions with Honda CEO Takahiro Hachigo

Like most of his predecessors, Honda Motor Co. president Takahiro Hachigo, 58, is an engineer by trade. He was deputy chief engineer for the second-generation Odyssey minivan, chief engineer for the second-gen CR-V, then manager of Honda R&D. He`s done stints in purchasing, production, Europe and China. In February 2015, Hachigo was designated successor to then president and CEO Takanobu Ito.

Hachigo`s daily driver is a Kei-class S660 roadster. He recently sat down with Autoweek’s J.P. Vettraino in Tochigi, Japan.

Honda CEO Takahiro Hachigo

Q: It seems in some ways — turbos, autonomy — you are playing catch-up and maybe switching the Honda Way. You seem to be developing a fresh strategy since you took over. Can you talk about that shift in strategy?

Hachigo: We are not attempting to catch up with the others. We`re attempting to achieve something very unique to us. By 2030, we would like sixty five percent of our total sales to come from electrified vehicles of some sort. But that is not fresh to us. We built the very first hybrid (the Insight). The interaction of motor and engine control remains a big challenge, and Honda is the leader in that, and that`s a big advantage to us. We`ve been the leader in (hydrogen fuel cells).

Our next purpose is a zero-collision society, and automation will be a big part of that. One treatment is evolving and expanding our Honda Sensing Technology. Another part is that we are discussing joint R&D with Waymo in the United States. That will be concurrent but separate from our own research, but we have been a leader here, too.

None of that means a fresh way and the way Honda has always done things are mutually special. We have always been committed to efficiency and the joy of driving and operating well-crafted machines. I would point to the (fresh) NSX as an example, the Civic Type R, and our ongoing commitment to racing. That will not switch.

Takahiro Hachigo’s daily driver

Q: A few years ago in the United States, it was a popular opinion that Honda was not big enough to proceed on its own. A few years later, Honda has no major alliances and remains a very profitable company. Going forward, is Honda committed to remaining independent?

Hachigo: There are many things to work on, including electrification, AI and the automated driving. We are not going to do everything by ourselves. For electrification technologies, there is a plan to have a joint venture with Hitachi Automotive. And as I said, we have commenced some studies with Waymo for the development of automation. We (have) opened a joint-venture fuel-cell plant with GM (in Michigan).

But reminisce: Honda sells five million automobiles a year. We also sell ten million engines, power equipment, motorcycles and jets. We have, in total, twenty eight million customers, and that makes a customer pool, (synergies) and potential economies of scale few companies love.

So in any area with business, if we can see possible win-win relationships, we are open for such opportunities. However, we have no intention for any capital type of alliance with any other automaker.

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Q: Average (fresh car) transaction prices in the United States have climbed into mid-$30,000 range. Do you think the ownership model will switch significantly in the future, especially with the rise of car-sharing services and the coming of automation?

Hachigo: The company is certainly studying how the ownership model will switch, and it certainly is going to evolve in some sense, with things different than they are now. So I would ask you how you think the model might switch. My point is that no one is sure, and everyone has ideas.

Situations are very different in different countries — even within the same country. In the United States, it’s truly hard to say what the breakdown of traditional ownership and sharing will be in ten years. What we`re certain of is that there will proceed to be opportunities for companies like Honda.

Personally, I think that some predictions about the end of private ownership are widely overstated or exaggerated, but I think that sharing will be an significant part of the future. We have to strive to make sure that automobiles are affordable to people who want to own them and also to make sure that our cars are attractive in a sharing model. If people choose to use Hondas in the sharing model, then that`s an advantage. It`s similar to making Hondas appealing under the traditional ownership model.

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Q: Recently, Honda established an electrified vehicle research unit. Given your long history with fuel cells, have you switched your assessment of how those two technologies stack up — and their futures for zero-emission vehicles?

Hachigo: Battery vehicles will be part of the market, clearly. The challenge for us is to make them very attractive, very appealing, with the motors and batteries at our disposition. Meantime, we believe fuel-cell vehicles remain the ultimate type of zero-emission vehicle. Obviously the infrastructure (is necessary), but we do not see that as an (insurmountable) impediment.

The FCV still shows a very high potential for the future. We have established mass-production technology for fuel cells and (opened) a factory. The FCV has advantages that the battery won`t be able to match for a long time. It has potential as an alternative power supply. Fuel cells can treat very big vehicles that battery EVs can`t for the foreseeable future. Those are some of the reasons we remain committed.

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Q: Yesterday, in a presentation on autonomy, one of your engineers cited the objective of «joy to rail in.» I’ve been racing Hondas for about twenty five years because they are joy to drive, and it`s just very hard to wrap my arms around «joy to rail in.» Do you see a disconnect there? Or are they parallel practices?

Hachigo: Honda sells the most motorcycles of any company in the world. Since the very beginning, “joy to drive” has been a key purpose with all our motorcycles and automobiles, and we don`t want to switch that. As automobiles evolve and autonomy comes into play for some drivers, «joy to rail in» can (as well). I think it`s a parallel practice, joyful in its way, and it`s not a crazy idea.

As some people accept autonomous driving, they might be left to watching movies, sleeping, eating or something. But we know we can have joy traveling, and maybe instead of movies, the joyful feeling is the wind, the scenery, the smells. Right now, people love the practice of trains, boat rails, a roller coaster, that they are not instantly controlling. We think we can achieve the same thing.