Honda CEO Apologizes as Company Posts First Loss in Nearly 70 Years

Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe faced shareholders Friday and apologized for the company’s worst financial performance in seven decades. He survived a re-election vote, but the meeting exposed deep fractures in the company’s leadership.

Honda reported its first annual net loss since the post-war era last month. The red ink came from over $9 billion in electric vehicle restructuring charges, compounded by intensifying competition from Chinese automakers that laid bare a series of costly strategic missteps.

“I would like to express my deepest apologies for recording a net loss in the previous fiscal year and causing significant concern and inconvenience to our shareholders,” Mibe said at the start of the meeting.

All 10 board candidates were approved, including nine incumbents and one new member. But the vote was hardly smooth.

Mibe acknowledged that Honda’s EV market share in the United States had fallen well below expectations after government subsidies were phased down. Rather than pour money into discounts on planned models, the company took impairment charges on its EV business. “If we continued selling the originally planned EV models, the automotive business would be in the red for at least five years — possibly as long as seven. We would face an extremely severe situation,” he said.

In recent months, several former Honda executives have publicly and privately criticized Mibe over a string of strategic decisions. One of them — former CEO Nobuhiko Kawamoto — personally visited Honda’s Tokyo headquarters in April and demanded Mibe resign, according to people familiar with the matter.

Critics argue Mibe neglected China, the world’s largest auto market. Honda’s failed bet on pure electric vehicles has not only produced massive losses but also exposed the company’s heavy reliance on its high-margin motorcycle business for profitability.

Toward the end of the meeting, a shareholder proposed a motion to remove Mibe from his position. Mibe declined to put the motion to a vote, saying removal was not on the day’s agenda and therefore could not be considered.

Mibe also said Honda has been in substantive discussions with Nissan and Mitsubishi since mid-2024 about collaborating on next-generation automotive technologies. The talks, he said, have made meaningful progress.