Honda Sets New Record for Plant Shutdown
January 20, 2009
Honda plans to halt production at its U.K. plant that employs 4,200 people for four months. That is believed to be the longest shutdown by any carmaker worldwide -- so far.
Honda said on Friday it would extend a shutdown planned for February and March into April and May. Honda's move puts more pressure on the U.K. government to bail out ailing automakers who are struck by the general decline in the economy and car sales, which are worse in the U.K. than in Europe generally.
November sales in the U.K. collapsed by 37 percent and were down another 21 percent in December, putting them at their lowest level in 12 years. In Europe, sales were down 18 percent in December.
Automakers also are hit by the weak sterling that makes the price of imported parts for car-building in the U.K. more expensive.
Toyota and Nissan also trimmed their European production last week. BMW announced it was cutting the work hours of 26,000 employees in Germany. In Japan, Mitsubishi will idle three plants in Japan for up to 14 days each next month.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 1:02 PM under Business , Companies | Comments (0) | digg this | Seed Newsvine
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