U.S. and Japanese negotiators are still working on trade talks in Washington. But for Japanese automakers, that's not the biggest news of the week.
Honda is scaling back its production of electric vehicles. The CEO told reporters this week that the company is cutting its investment in EVs by nearly a third over the next six years.
Honda still plans to spend nearly $50 billion on electric vehicles over that period — but the company's leadership says the spending cut reflects a drop in demand for fully electric vehicles.
Honda has slashed its expectations for EVs from 30% of its overall sales to about 20% by 2030.
Japan's number two automaker is shifting more resources into the production of hybrid vehicles — a significant change in strategy.
That's long been the approach of Japan's top automaker, Toyota, which has focused more on hybrids in recent years than on all-electric vehicles.
Toyota introduced the first mass-produced hybrid vehicle back in 1997 — the Prius.
The hybrid landscape has changed a lot since then, and this week, Toyota announced a dramatic change for what Car and Driver says is the best-selling sport utility vehicle in the United States.
Next year's version of the RAV-4 SUV will only be available as a hybrid — no option for a gasoline-only version.
