
Honda sold 11.5 million motorcycles in FY 2011 compared to 3.5 million cars and trucks.
Honda Motor Company said today in Japan that profits plunged 38% to ¥44.55 billion (~$547 million) in the current fourth quarter as a result of the Japan earthquake and ongoing appreciation of the Japanese Yen.
Honda’s net profit in Q4 is down from ¥72.18 billion in the same quarter a year earlier. This appears to be much more than industry analysts were predicting as the financial toll of the earthquake keeps growing.
Honda – in a likely preview of expected results at Toyota and Nissan – warned that the next quarter of the year, Q1 in the Japanese calendar, would be worse as Honda and its domestic consolidated subsidiaries recognize about ¥45.7 billion yen of losses.
Furthermore, Honda and its subsidiaries did not recognize the costs of future restoration activities expected to be incurred in the next fiscal year in the current consolidated financial statements.
As a result Honda said in a statement that it is “currently unable to reasonably calculate forecasts for consolidated financial results for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012” due to the impact of Japan Earthquake. Honda will release the forecasts of the consolidated financial results for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012 as soon as they become available.
While Q4 was a financial disaster for Honda, it did nearly double its net profit to ¥534 billion from ¥268.4 billion in the full fiscal year through 31 March 2011. Honda also increased operating profit 57% to ¥570 billion from ¥364 billion, the result of strong sales in Asia and recovering sales in North America.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.