Honda Motors to cut India production by 50 percent

"We are experiencing gaps in our supply chain due to the situation in Japan, resulting in production cuts," said Jnaneswar Sen, senior vice president (marketing and sales), Honda Siel Cars India Ltd.

According to Sen, the company would move to a single shift operations from May.
He added that the company was making all possible efforts to restore normal production after July.

"We plan to get back to normal production as soon as supplies normalise," he added.
The situation with parts supply from Japan remains uncertain. Production of components and vehicles at Honda plants in Japan is at approximately 50 percent of the original production after the country was hit by a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami March 11.

Most of Japan-based Honda suppliers are making progress at restarting production.
Honda is working with its suppliers to help re-establish their operations, while evaluating other possible sources for those parts in its supply chain.

Earlier, another Japanese automobile major Toyota said that it planned to reduce its production by 70 percent between April 25 and June 4.

“It may be difficult to avoid the inconvenience caused to our customers, and we deeply apologise for the same. We will try to minimise any delivery delays,” said Sandeep Singh, deputy managing director (marketing), Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt. Ltd.

Production at the company's two plants in Bangalore will be suspended on Mondays and Fridays between April 25 and June 4.