Honda's Net Profit Falls Over 40 Pct in April-Dec.

The major Japanese automaker has been hit hard by the slowdown of the electric vehicle market in the United States, reflecting President Donald Trump's revision of the nation's EV policy as well as the impacts of high tariff measures introduced by the Trump administration.

Honda is now poised to review its vehicle electrification strategy, including for the Chinese market.

"The North American (EV) market is in an unfavourable state," Honda Executive Vice President Noriya Kaihara said at a press conference on Tuesday. "We will withdraw our (EV-related) plans in China and take on a challenge in the country again after strengthening our competitiveness," he added.

Honda's group operating profit in the first three quarters of fiscal 2025 dropped 48.1 per cent to 591,505 million yen, with impairment losses on EV-related inventories and facilities, and the impacts of the high US tariffs pushing down the profit by 267.1 billion yen and 289.8 billion yen, respectively.

In addition, Honda was forced to reduce or suspend production at some overseas plants due to the disruption of parts supplies from a Chinese semiconductor maker.

Honda's automobile division posted an operating loss of 166.4 billion yen, which was covered by the strong performance of its motorcycle business.

Also on Tuesday, Mazda Motor Corp. reported a consolidated net loss of 14,710 million yen for April-December, compared with the year-before net profit of 90,579 million yen.

The impact of the high US tariffs on the Japanese automaker amounted to 119.2 billion yen.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]