Honda becomes fifth automaker to suspend Mexico production

MEXICO CITY — Honda Motor Co. today joined four other automakers in halting vehicle production here in the wake of rebel bomb attacks on fuel pipelines in southern Mexico on Monday, Sept. 10.

The Japanese automaker said early today it would suspend production at its vehicle and components assembly plant in El Salto, Jalisco, on Thursday, Sept. 13, and Friday, Sept. 14, because of a lack of natural gas supplies.

Other automakers suspending production this week were General Motors in Silao and Toluca; Ford Motor Co. in Cuautitlan; Chrysler LLC in Toluca; and Volkswagen AG in Puebla. More plant shutdowns are possible.

Also, at least 100 supplier plants now have suspended operations because of the pipeline issue or because customers told them to stop delivering parts.

Angel Antonio Sanchez, public relations manager for GM in Mexico, said today that GM had suspended paint and foundry operations at its Toluca plant, where the company makes the Chevy C-series, Silverado and GMC Sierra heavy duty trucks.

He said GM would turn to liquefied petroleum gas as an alternative “and we could resume operations in those areas in Toluca the day after tomorrow (Friday), using LPG,” he said.

As for GM’s Silao plant, where assembly operations were halted after Monday’s explosions, he said vehicle assembly work would not resume until natural gas supplies had been restored. GM makes the Suburban, Avalanche, Silverado, Sierra, GMC Yukon, and Escalade EXT in Silao.

At the moment, GM has enough inventory to satisfy demand, Sanchez said. But if the natural gas service is not restored by next Wednesday, the situation could become serious, he added.

He said lost production time in Toluca and Silao would be made up by working extra weekend hours.

Earlier today, Honda spokesman Humberto de Avila told Automotive News that the El Salto plant would be shut down after tonight’s third shift, which ends at 12:40 a.m. local time Thursday. The plant will not reopen until the first shift at 7 a.m. Monday, Sept. 17.

The plant, which employs 2,800 people, is converting production from Accord sedans to CR-V crossovers. The plant also is a major exporter of bumpers for various Honda vehicles made in the United States and Canada.

Because of the changeover, the impact on production will be minimal and will be made up quickly, Honda spokesman David Iida said.

He said the plant this week was producing only nine vehicles a day. By October, it plans to produce about 95 vehicles a day.

The plant, which is near Guadalajara in western Mexico, already has closed its paint shop, he added. He said the lost production time would be made up by working on two Saturdays.

“We don’t have liquefied petroleum gas at the plant,” he said when asked whether Honda had alternative fuel supplies.

The supply chain has been plagued by the outages as well.

A leading Mexican industry official who earlier in the week said at least 50 supplier plants were either shut down or being asked not to deliver plants, on Tuesday revised his estimate upwards.

“At least 100 plants have been hit,” said the official, who asked to remain anonymous.

State energy monopoly Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, said late Tuesday it would start restoring supplies of natural gas, vital to the automotive industry and other sectors, sometime between Sunday, Sept. 16, and the early hours of Monday.

In a statement on its Web site, Pemex said 750 workers were at the scenes of six explosions.

A leftist rebel group has claimed responsibility for the bombings, Mexico’s second such attack in the past three months.