Japanese carmaker Honda to reduce output capacity in China due to weak sales

By Emir Yildirim

ISTANBUL (AA) – Japanese carmaker Honda said on Thursday that the company will cut down on its annual car output capacity by 50,000 units in China due to weak sales, Tokyo-based Kyodo News reported.

Although Honda has been annually manufacturing over 1.49 million units in China, it will halt production at each plants of its Chinese joint ventures around October and November.

The rise of affordable electric vehicles (EV) in China led to the decreasing sales of Honda vehicles.

Honda offered early retirement packages in May to cut down on its workforce, as the carmaker makes plans to set right its production capabilities in China by putting more emphasis on EVs and less on combustion engine cars.

The carmaker said that it plans to increase EV production by 240,000 units while decreasing gasoline-powered car production by 290,000.