Honda Motor halts production at car plant in S. China

Shanghai, June 23 (Gasgoo.com) Honda Motor halted production at a car assembly factory in southern China today, because of a strike at an auto parts supplier owned by Japan's Denso Corp, Reuters reported.

A Honda spokesman said the company was not certain when the suspended production at the factory will restart. The halted facility, one of two plants at its joint venture Guangqi Honda, makes the Accord, Fit and other models, with an annual production capacity of 240,000 units.

This is the second carmaker after Toyota Motor to turn off assembly lines in China this week. Toyota said earlier that production at a key Chinese auto assembly plant will remain halted for at least the day shift today because of the same strike.

Output at the Toyota factory, which is capable of making 360,000 cars annually of the Camry, Yaris and other models, has been suspended since yesterday morning because of the strike at Denso (Guangzhou Nansha) Co Ltd, Reuters said.

The Denso plant, located in China's booming southern Guangdong province, supplies fuel injection equipment and other products to clients such as Toyota Motor and Honda Motor and has stopped shipping parts since June 21.

The strike at the Denso plant is the latest in a series of walkouts in the past few weeks that have intermittently halted the car assembly plants of Honda's Chinese ventures with Guangzou Auto and Dongfeng Motor Corp.