Kyodo News (Tokyo) - Honda Motor Co. said Monday its domestic production in March plunged to a record low 34,754 units, down 62.9 percent from a year earlier, due to the month's major earthquake and the resulting disruption of the supply chain for parts.
The output is the lowest since November 1997, when the company began making public comparable data. It represents a drop for the fourth consecutive month and the rate of decline was the sharpest ever.
The major automaker temporarily halted all of its manufacturing operations in the aftermath of the devastation wreaked by the disaster.
The company's sales in Japan also plummeted 28.2 percent to 58,203 units, dropping for seven months in a row and marking a new low since February 1996 with the rate of slowdown also the steepest ever.
Exports tumbled 26.2 percent to 20,699 units, the first fall in five months. Overseas output went down for the first time in 17 months, sliding 3.2 percent to 247,500 vehicles.
