Honda is preparing to build a huge new hybrid vehicle factory in Ohio, in a move that shows just how quickly the Japanese car giant is changing its electrification strategy.

According to reports, Honda is considering investing between $1.8bn and $2.5bn in the new facility, with production potentially beginning in 2030. Construction could start as early as 2027, subject to final negotiations over state incentives.

The factory would have capacity for around 250,000 vehicles a year, with production expected to focus on large hybrid SUVs, including models more than five metres long.

It would become Honda’s eighth assembly plant in North America and its first new site in the region in roughly two decades.

The timing is significant. Honda has recently scaled back its North American EV ambitions, cancelling plans for three battery-electric models while increasing its 2030 hybrid sales target to 2.5 million vehicles.

But Honda isn’t abandoning EVs. The proposed Ohio plant could be designed to build both hybrids and fully electric vehicles, allowing production to switch between powertrains as demand changes.

Honda is also investing more than $700m in existing Ohio facilities to create similarly flexible production lines.

The company is simultaneously looking to strengthen its US supply chain, potentially increasing domestic sourcing of hybrid motors and inverters from around 20 per cent today to 90 per cent by 2029.

Honda isn’t alone. Toyota, Subaru and Nissan are also expanding their US hybrid operations as American demand for electrified vehicles evolves.

For Honda, the new Ohio factory is therefore less a retreat from EVs than a giant insurance policy: build what Americans want today, while keeping the machinery ready for whatever they want tomorrow.