Honda’s global team will visit Canada this week to meet with federal government officials as the Japanese automaker reportedly considers a $18.4 billion investment to build electric vehicles in Canada. CBC News reported.
This week’s meeting comes after Honda Global and Honda Canada executives met with Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne and other senior officials last month, according to a person with direct knowledge of the meeting.
News of these meetings comes as Japanese news outlet Nikkei Asia reports that Honda is considering investing $18.4 billion to build an electric vehicle factory in Canada that could also produce batteries. It was reported that.
The Japanese automaker is reportedly considering several potential locations for the plant, including one adjacent to its existing facility in Alliston, Ont.
Honda plans to make a final decision on the project by the end of the year, and the new facility could begin production as early as 2028, the Nikkei Shimbun reported.
A Honda spokesperson did not confirm the Nikkei report, but said the company is considering “a number of initiatives” to reach its 2040 goal of producing only electric vehicles.
“Currently, we are focused on our EV hub in Ohio and plan to begin producing EVs and EV batteries in North America in the second half of 2025,” the spokesperson said.
Champagne did not confirm that negotiations with Honda were underway, but said the government will continue to promote Canada as a world leader in EV production to attract these types of investments.
“Reports that Honda is considering making significant investments in Canada speak volumes about Honda’s quality.” [Canada’s] The strength of our workforce and our industry,” he said in a media statement.
Vic Fedeli, spokesperson for Ontario’s Minister of Economic Development, told CBC News that the provincial government “doesn’t publicly discuss the economic outlook,” but Premier Doug Ford’s government said it has “an end-to-end EV He added that the company is working to expand its supply chain.
Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Industries Association, asked how automakers around the world are planning to do so in response to Canada’s decision to end sales of new passenger cars powered only by gasoline or diesel by 2035. He said he has begun discussions with the state and federal governments to see if this can be achieved. reality.
Volpe said he was not surprised by reports of high-level talks between Ottawa and Honda.
“None of this is certain, but we’re particularly excited about the idea of Honda building on what they have here,” he said.
government support
Last year, federal and state governments announced a number of contracts with EV battery manufacturers Northvolt, Volkswagen and Stellantis LGES.
The government estimates investment over 10 years to be $37.7 billion, of which $32.8 billion will be used for production subsidies and $4.9 billion for facility construction.
Congressional budget officials said 62% of the cost would be borne by the federal government and the remaining 38% by the states.
Federal and local investments in EV production are directly aimed at keeping pace with measures contained in the Inflation Control Act, a $369 billion U.S. program that provides subsidies and incentives to U.S. companies that make electric vehicles. This is an initiative.
The manufacturing facility being built in Canada by Swedish battery giant Northvolt will occupy 170 hectares (more than 300 soccer fields) on a parcel of land that straddles two communities on Montreal’s South Shore.
In the spring, the federal government announced $13.2 billion in production subsidies over the next 10 years to build a Volkswagen battery factory in St. Thomas, Ont. The plant will be the size of 391 soccer fields and will bring automotive jobs to the area.
Stellantis LGES halted construction on its Windsor, Ont., battery factory this summer, saying the provincial and federal governments would need to finance an initial investment of more than $500 million.
Construction resumed after the government announced up to $15 billion in subsidies. The factory is expected to start operating in 2024 and employ approximately 2,500 people.
Separately from these three deals, Ottawa and Quebec announced in August that they would invest $644 million to build a new Ford factory in Bécancourt to produce materials needed for electric vehicle batteries. did.
