Honda Motor Co Ltd on Thursday posted its first ever annual loss as a listed company, grappling with U.S. trade tariffs and a significant writedown on its electric vehicle (EV) business.
The Japanese automaker reported an operating loss of 414.35 billion yen ($2.62 billion) for the year to March 31, compared to a profit of 1.213 trillion yen a year earlier.
Sales edged up 0.5% to 21.797 trillion yen. Honda also recorded a net loss of 433.94 billion yen, versus a profit of 835.84 billion yen last year.
The loss—the first in its 70 years of listing—stems mainly from a massive impairment of up to $15.7 billion from its EV operations. Honda also canceled some model launches due to weak demand in North America and wrote down investments in China.
Looking ahead, Honda expects an operating profit of 500 billion yen this fiscal year, focusing on boosting conventional and hybrid vehicle sales in North America.
