Honda cuts North American production again

Honda Motor Co. said Thursday it will further cut vehicle production in North America as it adjusts to plunging automobile demand.

Tokyo-based Honda is reducing production by another 119,000 vehicles for its fiscal year ending March 31, bringing expected production for the fiscal year to 1.3 million units.

Honda spokesman Ed Miller said the cuts will take place at five of Honda's seven plants in the U.S. and Canada. Employees at the plants will be given other tasks or can take paid or unpaid vacation time, he said. No layoffs will result from the cuts, he said.

Another Honda spokesman, Ron Lietzke, said production will be scaled back at the company's engine plant in Anna, Ohio, and its transmission plant in Russells Point, Ohio.

Honda, the second-largest Japanese automaker, has been hurt by the global auto industry downturn, a product of slowing economic growth and tight credit markets around the world. Earlier this month, the automaker said its U.S. sales fell 32 percent in November and 5 percent for the first 11 months of the year.

The company's latest production cuts come on top of previous reductions of 56,000 vehicles for North America announced earlier in the fiscal year. Last month, Honda said it was cutting production in Japan and Europe by 61,000 vehicles.

Miller said production will be cut by 18,000 vehicles at Honda's plant in Lincoln, Ala.; by 58,000 vehicles at its plants in Marysville and East Liberty, Ohio; by 37,000 vehicles at its operations in Alliston, Canada; and by 6,000 vehicles at its recently opened plant in Greensburg, Ind.

Lietzke said the cuts at the Ohio auto plants would be completed by March.

U.S.-traded shares of Honda fell $1.68, or 7.3 percent, to $21.32 in morning trading amid uncertainty over the fate of a federal rescue of the U.S. auto industry. The Senate failed to pass a proposed bailout package Thursday.