In a sign of the Japanese crisis taking a bigger toll on the global auto industry, Honda announced on Monday an around 50 per cent production cut at its Indian plant from May.
This is because of a shortage of components arriving from suppliers in Japan.
The Japanese carmaker has also undertaken a similar drop in production at its home plants. These had restarted operations on April 11, after shutting down earlier due to the earthquake and tsunami.
“We are experiencing gaps in our supply chain due to the situation in Japan, resulting in production cuts. We are moving to single shift operations from May, while carefully monitoring the situation. We plan to get back to normal production as soon as supplies normalise,' said Mr Jnaneswar Sen, Senior Vice-President, Marketing and Sales, Honda Siel Cars India (HSCI).
This follows last week's announcement from Toyota, of a production cut at its domestic plants.
Toyota is reducing production by as much as 70 per cent between April 25 and June 4, while stopping work on Mondays and Fridays. Toyota operates in India through a joint venture with Kirloskar.
“Most of the suppliers are making progress to restart production, and many either have or are ready to resume parts production … Honda is making every effort to work towards a full recovery after July,” said a company statement.
HSCI, which has invested Rs 1,620 crore in India since 1997, makes passenger cars such as the Civic, City and Jazz at its one lakh per annum capacity plant in Greater Noida.