Damage to the Honda R&D Center where new vehicles are developed could have longer term negative effects on Honda than lost production, which can be made up.
That of course was before the parts shortages and vehicle production disruptions caused by the Japan earthquake and tsunami on 11 March took hold.
Honda worldwide production in March experienced a year-on-year decrease for the second month running, and Honda is currently running at 50% of capacity or less in Japan.
Honda produced 3.6 million vehicles in total from last April until the end of March. Since only 912,000 of those units were made in Japan, Honda is arguably more diversified than the other two companies in the Japanese Big Three, Toyota and Nissan. Honda successfully pioneered oversees production by Japanese automakers in the 1980s, ultimately forcing competitors to follow.
All Japanese automakers are now facing ongoing production disruptions and sharp decreases in revenue as a result of closed or partially running Japanese factories that produce key pieces for overseas plants.
| Honda Production Outside of Japan | |||||
| March 2011 | Fiscal Year 2011(’10 Apr.-’11 Mar.) | ||||
| Units | vs.’10 | Units | vs.FY10 | ||
| North America | 113,060 | -10.5% | 1,291,556 | +12.1% | |
| (USA) | 89,483 | -4.4% | 963,911 | +16.4% | |
| Europe | 12,912 | -7.0% | 139,114 | +40.0% | |
| Asia | 108,997 | +9.8% | 1,085,457 | +9.4% | |
| (China) | 73,032 | +11.9% | 687,632 | +5.4% | |
| Others | 12,531 | -22.7% | 147,928 | -7.2% | |
| Overseas Total | 247,500 | -3.2% | 2,664,055 | +10.9% | |
Fiscal Year 2011
Honda production in Japan for the Fiscal Year 2011 experienced a year-on-year increase for the first time since FY 2007.
Production in regions outside of Japan experienced a year-on-year increase for the first time in three years (since Fiscal Year 2008). Overseas auto production and production in Asia and China set all-time fiscal year records.
March 2011
Honda production in Japan for the month of March 2011 experienced a year-on-year decrease for the fourth consecutive month.
| Honda Exports from Japan | ||||
| March 2011 | Fiscal Year 2011 (’10 Apr.-’11 Mar.) |
|||
| Units | vs.’10 | Units | vs.FY10 | |
| North America | 15,106 | -1.0% | 208,696 | +56.4% |
| (USA) | 14,698 | +10.2% | 199,696 | +60.5% |
| Europe | 1,684 | -67.8% | 40,614 | -11.2% |
| Asia | 1,142 | -29.4% | 15,348 | +24.9% |
| Others | 2,767 | -53.5% | 45,596 | +18.4% |
| Total | 20,699 | -26.2% | 310,254 | +34.9% |
Production in regions outside of Japan experienced a year-on-year decrease for the first time in 17 months (since October 2009), although production in Asia and China set record production for any months.
