Honda Motor Co. has released figures for the first half of the current fiscal year (April – September 2013) showing record global production but performance in Japan and Europe has failed to keep up.
A significant increase in production levels has been recorded in Asia and USA. When compared to last year, both have accounted for a 13% increase during the first half of the fiscal year and respectively 30.6% and 25.7% more in September 2013.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) confirmed that the results “do reflect growth in global automotive manufacturing” but despite the encouraging figures “it is a fact that a decline in European new car markets and uncertain economic prospects has forced a number of vehicle manufacturers to restructure their operations.”
Honda automobile production has dropped by almost 31% in Europe during the first half of the fiscal year and by almost 8% in September compared to the same month last year. The figures also dropped 21.6% in Japan during this first half of this fiscal year compared to last year.
Honda’s UK production and sales results were not released but the SMMT claims that the car industry is still going strong in the country by saying that “September saw rises of 9.9% in car manufacturing, reinforcing the underlying strength of the sector.”
The Society estimates’ are also quite optimistic and suggest that by 2016/17, UK car manufacturing is on course to break all-time manufacturing records with output volumes approaching two million units. “So, while the road out of recession has been bumpy, the future for all UK car manufacturers is bright,” said an SMMT spokesperson.
