‘To be fair, this is a one night stand’: Expert blasts Honda for controversial new Chevy partnership that led to the 2024 Prologue
A man went viral on TikTok after blasting Honda for working alongside General Motors, a partnership that began in earnest earlier this year. GM owns Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, and Buick, and the new car it cooked up with its Asian counterpart shares characteristics with some of its flagship American cars.
User @osmiumxc90, who frequently posts car-related content to his TikTok page, uploaded the short video mocking Honda earlier this month. As of Monday morning, the clip had already amassed more than 298,400 views.
“Me getting mad at Honda after they made the dumbest decision ever,” @osmiumxc90 wrote via text overlay.
While the content creator’s face is never shown, he does show viewers a short PowerPoint presentation in which he dunks on the collaborative project.
“You have a reputation for incredible reliability…,” the first slide read.
“But you chose to partner with,” it continued.
“General Motors,” it ended. On this slide, there was a photo of GM’s logo alongside a laughing emoji.
Why is Honda partnering with General Motors?
Last year, Honda and General Motors announced a plan to jointly develop affordable electric vehicles. The goal at the time, it said, was to compete with Tesla. That plan was scrapped, however, in October following slower-than-expected demand and changing market conditions, according to CNBC.
The cancellation of the aforementioned program, however, didn’t stop the two from pairing up to develop “hydrogen fuel cells of the of the next generation to help to provide them vehicles with an electric powertrain,” EcoNews reported. According to the site, the two entities were expected to pool upward of $85 million to produce this new technology, which is expected to lower the cost of fuel cells.
Since then, it appears as though Honda’s plans to create a reliable electric vehicle are coming to fruition. In March, Honda announced its all-electric 2024 Prologue SUV, the brand’s first U.S. model that’s solely powered by electricity. The car is reportedly based on General Motors’ Ultium electric vehicle platform and came as part of its renewed partnership with Honda.
This is on par with Honda’s longterm goals, according to the Financial Times. Honda has reportedly been one of the slowest big carmakers to roll out electric vehicles. And its cheif executive, Toshihiro Mibe, previously declared a phaseout from petrol and diesel cars by 2040. According to Consumer Reports, the arrangement with General Motors is a prelude to Honda’s plans to deliver electric vehicles based on its own proprietary electric platform starting in 2026.
What are the reactions to the Honda-GM partnership? And to the Honda Prologue?
While @osmiumxc90 didn’t seem exactly thrilled by the news, other viewers had a somewhat mixed reaction.
One viewer, for instance, said it was “genius” for the two to partner. “GM has a good EV platform and Honda doesn’t even have to lift a finger and they look good for making an EV,” they wrote.
“GM made good EVs tho gotta give them that,” another said.
Others, however, were more skeptical of the partnership and doubted that it would last long.
“To be fair, this is a one night stand,” a third person commented. “The ZDX and Prologue are the only models that will come out of this partnership.”
@osmiumxc90 #cars #car #fyp #automotive #cartiktok #cartok #carsoftiktok #honda #acura #hondaprologue #generalmotors #gm ♬ the_chumss on socials - The Chums
“All those prologues will rot in [a] dealer lot and we’ll all forget about them in like 2 years,” a fourth person said.
As for the car itself, it's been generally well-reviewed but it does look like a Chevrolet Blazer because of those GM parts.
The Daily Dot has reached out to @osmiumxc90 via TikTok comment and to Honda by email.
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