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The Japanese brand believes it can achieve a zero fatality rate in its vehicles and carbon neutrality by 2050.
Honda wants to be a car brand synonymous with safety, and is targeting a zero-fatality rate in its models over the next 25 years.
The ambitious goal will also tie in with its other objective of being completely carbon neutral with its cars, from production all the way to use, but that does not necessarily mean Honda will become an electric car-only brand.
Speaking to Australian media, Honda Australia’s new President and CEO Jay Joseph outlined its ambitions, which begins with developing, planning, and building its products now.
“For us to achieve those, we really have to start with those numbers being at zero in 2050 and then back-casting to today, and taking steps every year until then to achieve them,” Joseph said.
“For autos, one of the ways to achieve carbon neutral is to transition people’s relationship with energy for mobility.
“The near-term pathway is electrifying, and that means BEVs and we would also like that to include hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles when the infrastructure is there.”
While the two goals seem separate, Jospeh explained that ultimately both are about safety and responsibility to the community.
Mature vehicle markets transition from two-wheeled transport to four wheels, Joseph said, “but it’s always come at a cost”.
“There is a very acute cost of fatalities and traffic crashes, but there’s also this longer-term impact of mobility over time,” Joseph said.
“When you think about those two goals that we’ve set … they’re both aimed at the same thing, they’re both aimed at the preservation of precious human life.
“One acutely by preventing a single crash from happening, and therefore all crashes around our vehicles.
“But one over a longer arc of time, because one of the consequences of personal mobility has been the impacts of climate change and air pollution.
“As a company we take responsibility, not only for the quality of our products, but for the operation of our products – and the operation of our products means the emissions of our products, that we don’t want to contribute to that.”
To this end, Honda will stick to a handful of key core principles will all its future products – affordability being one of them, according to Joseph.
“Our mantra for our vehicle development is quite simple – make vehicles that are clean, safe, and fun,” Joseph said.
“Of course, good value is baked into our corporate culture as well.
“But it’s that responsibility to our customers and to society to not have those negative consequences to personal mobility.”
In Australia, Honda’s near-term plans include the rollout of more hybrid ZR-V and CR-V variants, launching the reborn Prelude in mid-2026, and coming to the electric vehicle (EV) market with a yet to be announced model late next year.
Tung Nguyen has been in the automotive journalism industry for over a decade, cutting his teeth at various publications before finding himself at Drive in 2024. With experience in news, feature, review, and advice writing, as well as video presentation skills, Tung is a do-it-all content creator. Tung’s love of cars first started as a child watching Transformers on Saturday mornings, as well as countless hours on PlayStation’s Gran Turismo, meaning his dream car is a Nissan GT-R, with a Liberty Walk widebody kit, of course.
