Honda considers switching some car production to US from Mexico, Canada, Nikkei reports

[TOKYO] Honda is considering switching some car production from Mexico and Canada to the US, aiming for 90 per cent of cars sold in the country to be made locally in response to new US auto tariffs, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Tuesday (Apr 15). Japan’s second-biggest automaker by sales plans to increase US vehicle production by as much as 30 per cent over two to three years in response to US President Donald Trump’s decision to put a 25 per cent levy on imported vehicles, Nikkei said.

Honda declined to comment, saying the information was not announced by the company. In the weeks before the new US levy went into effect, Reuters had already reported that Honda plans to make its next-generation Civic hybrid in the US state of Indiana, instead of Mexico, to avoid potential tariffs.

The US was Honda’s biggest market last year, accounting for nearly 40 per cent of global sales. The automaker sold 1.4 million vehicles, including Acura models, in the US last year. It imported about two-fifths of those cars from Canada or Mexico.

Honda posted a 5 per cent rise in US sales to almost 352,000 vehicles in the first three months of this year.

The company will move production of the CR-V SUV from Canada to the US and that of the HR-V SUV from Mexico to the world’s biggest economy, according to Nikkei.

To increase output, Honda is considering hiring more US workers, the newspaper said. Such a step would make it possible for Honda to switch to a three-shift system from two-shift work and extend production to weekends, Nikkei added. REUTERS