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Honda kills its only electric model sold in the US

The American arm of the Japanese giant has withdrawn its Clarity electric car in preparation for the next generation of vehicles.


Honda has withdrawn its sole electric vehicle (EV) offering – the Clarity, which is also sold as a plug-in hybrid and hydrogen-powered vehicle – from the United States market after only three years of sale in the region.

The Clarity name will continue but with a plug-in electric variant and hydrogen-powered variant – the latter only available in California.

According to a report from Statist, there were approximately 245,000 full-electric vehicles sold in the United States in 2019.

Overall sales of the Clarity totalled 11,654 in the same year, marking only a 4.8 per cent electric vehicle market share for the model.

However, important to note is that Honda US combines sales of all three powertrain variants of the Clarity into the one figure, so the actual number of full-electric Claritys and the model’s share of the market is likely to be less than 4.8 per cent.

Clarity sales also totalled 20,174 in 2018, marking a 42.2 per cent decline in sales for the model from 2018-2019.

Despite the figures, Honda US claims the Clarity has been retired so the marque can focus on its next generation of EVs.

"We will be introducing new, highly appealing all-electric vehicles for the U.S. market in the years ahead," Honda told MotorTrend.

The plug-in Clarity will be offered alongside plug-in hybrid versions of Honda's Accord and CR-V in the US.

Honda is reportedly planning an electric vehicle platform that will be used globally. The new architecture is claimed to support larger rear-wheel-drive vehicles and will arrive before 2025.

The news comes only a day after Elon Musk, CEO of American electric-vehicle maker Tesla, celebrated Tesla’s millionth electric vehicle produced – also making the brand the first ever to produce a million electric vehicles.

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