Honda Motor Co.'s global auto production rose in May as demand increased in Asia and the U.S., even as strikes in China disrupted output in the country.
Honda, Japan's second-largest carmaker, built 278,543 vehicles last month, an increase of 43 percent from a year earlier, it said in a statement today. Output in China fell 16 percent to 37,367 after workers at a supplier went on strike on May 17 seeking higher wages, causing Honda to halt production.
Demand for vehicles recovered in the U.S. and Japan from a year earlier, when carmakers scaled back output to reduce inventory amid a recession. Car sales also continued climbing in China, the world's largest auto market, where industrywide deliveries of passenger cars, trucks and buses rose 26 percent in May to 885,800.
Auto sales in the U.S. jumped 19 percent last month as consumer confidence rose to the highest level since March 2008, based on the Conference Board's index. Toyota Motor Corp.'s deliveries in the country rose 6.7 percent while Honda's increased 19 percent and Nissan Motor Co.'s climbed 24 percent.
At least eight strikes since the middle of May have forced suppliers to Honda, Toyota and Nissan to raise wages in China, increasing the carmakers' production costs. The unrest has spread since Honda agreed last month to boost pay 24 percent at a parts plant in Foshan, Guangdong province, to end a walkout that shut down all four of its Chinese car factories.
Honda's sales in the nation dropped 10 percent in May to 40,275 vehicles.
