EV sales in the U.S. are a small market segment, but one that’s growing quickly. Just 4% of new cars sold here are electric, but their market share is growing every year. That growth rate is slower than China or Europe, but faster than the . — slow and steady wins the race, right?

Honda, apparently, thinks otherwise. Rather than going all-in on EVs like or , the company is openly wondering if Americans actually have any interest in electric vehicles. From :

“We’ve told our Honda dealers that initially this is going to be very regional” for EV sales, Dave Gardner, executive vice president of Honda’s U.S. subsidiary, said at a briefing. “What is the consumer uptake? Right now, I think that’s something that’s a little out of whack” with automakers’ efforts to rush EVs to market, he said.

That cautious assessment comes amid an all-EV push by many rival automakers and just days after a Ford Motor Co. executive said EVs could grow to 10 percent of the U.S. market this year.

With that 4% market share, it’s not hard to see where Honda’s coming from. Look deeper, though, and the problem isn’t electrification itself — it’s . Pricing, in particular, is the single biggest barrier to entry for car buyers interested in going electric: Right now, 38 percent of buyers would consider an EV within the next 12 months. A theoretical EV that costs just $5,000 less than a comparable ICE vehicle, though, brings that number .

Building an EV that’s cheaper than a comparable ICE vehicle is easier said than done, but — especially when is helping to shoulder the costs. Until the U.S. , however, the question remains open: Is Honda’s cautious toe-dipping the right move on electrification, or will the push more buyers into EVs — and prove Ford and GM right?