DECEMBER 4, 2008
Something is going on at Honda...
Honda Motor announced yesterday that its sales in the United States in November had fallen by 32% in comparison to a year ago. This was around the same drop as Toyota reported on Tuesday. The Honda company share price in Tokyo fell nearly five percent after the announcement. The drop in US sales takes the company back to where it was in 2000 and is the biggest drop in 27 years. Honda has already decided to freeze its plan to increase production capacity in Turkey and will delay plant construction in India by at least one year. Honda recently announced that it is to cut production at its plant in Swindon and that this will be mothballed in February and March next year as the company struggles to cope with slowing demand for its products. The company says that there are no plans for redundancies but is offering early retirement packages in the UK. On Thursday afternoon we received a flurry of reports that Honda F1 personnel have suddenly started applying for jobs in large numbers. We have been trying to contact Honda Racing F1 this afternoon but have thus far been unable to reach anyone. There are also reports of a decision having been taken to introduce significant budget cuts and voluntary redundancies at the Brackley team.