TOKYO, May 14 -- Honda announced Thursday its first operational loss since 1957 after a major overhaul of its electric vehicle strategy in the United States.

Japan's number two automaker after Toyota said that its operating loss last year of Euro414.3 billion (RM10.3 billion) came after huge accounting charges in its EV operations.

Honda also reported a net loss of Euro423.9 billion, which according to Bloomberg News was the first since it began disclosing consolidated results in 1977.

For this year, Honda projected net profit of 260 billion yen and operating income of Euro500 billion - higher than market expectations - sending its shares at one point almost eight per cent higher.

Honda announced in March that it was cancelling the la...