Honda’s European chief said the automaker may rebuild a manufacturing presence in the region, depending on the final outcome of new rules in the European Union that will favor locally made cars.
The company has “certainly no intention of leaving Europe,” Hans de Jaeger, president of Honda’s European unit, said Nov. 4 in an interview at the EICMA motorcycle show in Milan.
The company could explore local production, possibly with another automaker, he said, stressing no such plan is currently on the table. De Jaeger said he hoped final legislation will recognize Japan as a trusted partner given Japanese companies’ investment in the region.
The European Commission’s proposed Industrial Accelerator Act is part of a push to protect manufacturing and reduce strategic dependencies as Chinese competition intensifies. It would reserve some public procurement and support for vehicles meeting “Made in EU” requirements, including local assembly and stringent European-content thresholds. The proposal still needs approval from the European Parliament and member states.
That poses a challenge for Honda, which no longer manufactures automobiles in Europe after ending car production in the U.K. in 2021.
Honda registrations across Europe were almost 59,000 in the first nine months of 2026. That’s too few to justify building a factory, De Jaeger said, though higher volumes could eventually change the calculation.
