GM to Build EV Crossovers for Honda, Acura

Jason R. Sakurai
by Jason R. Sakurai

Two Honda battery-electric crossovers will be built by General Motors in the next four years. A Honda will be built at a GM plant in Mexico, and an Acura alongside the Cadillac Lyriq in Tennessee.

In an Automotive News report, it was noted that in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico, where GM builds the Chevrolet Blazer and Equinox, the Honda crossover will start in 2023. GM was rumored to be retooling the plant for EV production by 2024, but this has not been confirmed.

2024 is when the Acura crossover production is scheduled for GM’s Spring Hill, Tennessee assembly plant, according to unnamed sources. Both crossovers are expected to be about the size of the Lyriq, which is planned to go on sale in early 2022.

GM’s Ultium batteries, which have a maximum range of 450 miles, will power the Honda and Acura vehicles. More than 5 million EVs will be Ultium-powered by 2040, more than 1 million of which are not GM products, Morgan Stanley estimates.

Honda wrapped up the year with a 4.2 percent gain in December for trucks, a record for electrified vehicles, and a double record for Passport. Led by 24,406 CR-V Hybrids, and 18,229 Accord Hybrid sales, Honda posted record sales of electrified vehicles for the third straight year, with 62,982 in total for 2020.

Neither GM nor American Honda would comment about their respective company’s product plans, signaling perhaps a decided shift in EV strategy, and ramped-up measures to bring them to fruition faster.

[Images: American Honda]

Jason R. Sakurai
Jason R. Sakurai

With a father who owned a dealership, I literally grew up in the business. After college, I worked for GM, Nissan and Mazda, writing articles for automotive enthusiast magazines as a side gig. I discovered you could make a living selling ad space at Four Wheeler magazine, before I moved on to selling TV for the National Hot Rod Association. After that, I started Roadhouse, a marketing, advertising and PR firm dedicated to the automotive, outdoor/apparel, and entertainment industries. Through the years, I continued writing, shooting, and editing. It keep things interesting.

More by Jason R. Sakurai

Comments
Join the conversation
5 of 23 comments
  • FreedMike FreedMike on Jan 07, 2021

    I'm sorry, but the old copy editor in me is compelled to point out that basic English usage on this site has really started to suffer. Case in point: "In an Automotive News report, it was noted that in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico, where GM builds the Chevrolet Blazer and Equinox, the Honda crossover will start in 2023." Take out the middle part of the sentence (which is about Ramos Arzipe and the other cars built there), and you get the following shortened sentence: "In an Automotive News report, the Honda crossover WILL START (emphasis mine) in 2023." I believe the writer was trying to say that production of the car will start in 2023, but the way the sentence is structured, he is literally saying that the car will start in 2023. Well, I certainly hope it starts; a car that won't start isn't going to sell well. I'm not trying to be grammar Nazi. But this is, in essence, a newspaper. The English in newspapers should be clear, concise and correct. Otherwise, the newspaper's credibility suffers. I'd suggest this writer needs to pay closer attention to his grammar, or have someone do some copy editing on his pieces.

    • See 1 previous
    • Steve Biro Steve Biro on Jan 07, 2021

      I'm an editor myself, Mike. Your comments are appropriate but don't expect anything to change. Without trying to slam the people at TTAC, the current environment means traditional editing is probably too expensive. In addition, I'm sure most pieces on this site are written by people with day jobs. Honest mistakes or oversights due to rushing things are always possible. It doesn't help that most people raised in the Age of the Internet haven't received thorough grammatical training. But I suspect it's mostly overlooked mistakes because writers are overworked or in a hurry. They'd probably agree with your remarks.

  • 28-Cars-Later 28-Cars-Later on Jan 07, 2021

    Feels like an April Fool's article.

    • NormSV650 NormSV650 on Jan 07, 2021

      We've been waited with baited breath for Thornmark to show...

  • Wjtinfwb 3...2...1.... BOOM!
  • MrIcky So I had to go read real news to find out what the problem here is: the main actual issue is that Tesla is publicly held and X is privately held so shareholders may actually have a case if they decide to pursue it. To clarify what these chips are for: they were going to be used in the data center to analyze driver data. Now they'll be used at X to analyze searches to better push content. "“Elon prioritizing X H100 GPU cluster deployment at X versus Tesla by redirecting 12k of shipped H100 GPUs originally slated for Tesla to X instead,” an Nvidia memo from December said. “In exchange, original X orders of 12k H100 slated for Jan and June to be redirected to Tesla.”"
  • Theflyersfan The laundry list of things done to this car is huge - check out the link. Yes, those are Lotus Elise seats that were installed. Not sure there's much that hasn't been touched on this car. I don't think this owner is going to try to cash out each penny of the mods put into this car. There looks to be some really good stuff installed under the hood. But this is a hard pass from me. While this isn't as tacky as the "let's throw scissor doors on a bedazzled pink RSX" gaudy, this isn't the most tasteful set of exterior changes either. But for someone with the cash and wants a weekend racer that will be a riot to drive, $20,000 might be about right.
  • ToolGuy "tire kickers and low-ballers will be ignored" • Then we are even.
  • Slavuta Boeing is crying
Next