Honda to go electrified across Europe by 2025

All new Honda vehicles for sale in Europe by 2025 will be battery electric or hybrid, Honda Motor Co. said Tuesday at the press preview for the Geneva auto show.

Honda originally planned for electrified vehicles to make up two-thirds of its European sales under a strategy outlined two years ago.

"Since we made that first pledge in March 2017, the shift towards electrification has gathered pace considerably," Tom Gardner, senior vice president of Honda Motor Europe, said during Honda's press conference. "Environmental challenges continue to drive demand for cleaner mobility. Technology marches on unrelenting and people are starting to shift their view of the car itself," he added.

Honda on Tuesday showed the e Prototype, a Mini Cooper-sized two-door hatchback with strong styling cues lifted from the mid '70s Honda Civic. The e Prototype, Honda says, is a preview of its first battery electric car for Europe. The stubby hatchback can travel 124 miles on a full charge, and its battery pack can be 80 percent recharged in 30 minutes, Honda said. Unusual for such a vehicle, the e Prototype is rear-wheel drive.

Honda plans to launch several energy management business ventures for EV owners. This year, Honda started sales of the hybrid version of the CR-V crossover. According to the Automotive News Data Center, 135,584 new Hondas were registered in Europe in 2018, a drop of 3.4 percent from 2017.