Japanese carmakers ‘very scared’ by China’s rapid EV development

An Xpeng electric car on display at the Beijing auto show, on April 25, 2024. Photo / Gilles Sabrié, The New York Times

Japanese carmakers are “very scared” by the rapid development of Chinese electric vehicles and risk becoming “followers” if they cannot innovate more quickly, the head of Sony-Honda’s joint venture has warned.

Yasuhide Mizuno said Japan’s companies needed to change their conservative corporate culture and called for a breakthrough in manufacturing to keep up with Chinese rivals, which within a few years have become some of the world’s leading vehicle exporters.

“Chinese competitors are very strong, and I’m very scared of their implementation and execution speed,” said Mizuno, chief executive of Sony Honda Mobility, at the company’s headquarters in Tokyo.

“Japanese carmakers are a bit nervous or sensitive before launching a car. We need to change this kind of behaviour, otherwise China will be first and we will always be followers,” added Mizuno, who led Honda’s China operations until 2020.

Despite an ambitious target to phase out petrol cars by 2040, Honda has lagged behind rivals in the global race for electrification.

It agreed to team up with Nissan in March to develop electric vehicles in order to survive the competition against high-tech, low-cost models from China.

The 50-50 joint venture between Honda and Sony was established in 2022 to combine Honda’s car manufacturing strength with Sony’s software and entertainment expertise.

The company plans to start delivering its electric vehicle to North America by 2026.

Mizuno said Chinese competitors were moving faster than he had anticipated.

Buoyed by large government subsidies and the recruitment of top Japanese, European and US engineers, the development time of Chinese electric vehicles — from concept to production — has shrunk to as little as 18 months, he estimated, adding that was less than half of the time it took to develop a car in Japan.

“Since China-made electric vehicles will not be entering the US, the choices for consumers will be limited,” Mizuno said.

“But instead of feeling good that Chinese cars will not be coming in, I feel that we should launch a car that can directly compete with Chinese rivals.”

‘Wealthy geeks’

Afeela, Sony-Honda’s premium car meant to showcase how software can be incorporated into the manufacturing process, will target what Mizuno described as “wealthy geeks” and will not be mass-produced.

Mizuno added that Japanese carmakers should not be complacent after the US quadrupled tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles to 100 per cent, in effect shutting out groups such as BYD and Nio from the market.

Despite a recent slowdown in the rapid growth of electric vehicles, Mizuno said he still expected EV sales to dominate the US, Chinese and European car markets by 2035.

Sony is expected to benefit from the joint venture by moving closer to the car manufacturing process and boosting sales of image sensors to the sector.

However, many analysts have questioned what Honda has to gain from the partnership.

Mizuno argued the joint venture would be equally valuable for Honda since it would obtain expertise in software development from Sony engineers.

“Software might be the new weapon in the car development process,” he said.

Written by: David Keohane and Kana Inagaki in Tokyo

© Financial Times