AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)02/21 Report--

Honda announced on Feb. 21 that it would postpone the resumption of operations at its Wuhan auto plant until March 11 and resume production that week. This means that Honda's Wuhan plant will continue to shut down production for nearly three weeks, with no production throughout February, with a cumulative shutdown of one and a half months.

So far, Honda has partially resumed operations at other factories in China this week, while Dongfeng Honda, another joint venture in Wuhan, Hubei province, has been out of service for a long time. This is the fourth time Honda has delayed the resumption of production at its Wuhan plant.

Honda said on the 14th that its plant in Wuhan plans to restart operations on the 21st and start production on February 24. According to the latest guidance on epidemic prevention and control released in Hubei on the 20th, all kinds of enterprises in the province should return to work no earlier than 24:00 on March 10. As a result, Honda once again delayed the resumption of work and production at its Wuhan plant. Including PSA Group's joint venture "Dragon Motor" in China, which has a number of factories in Hubei, has also been postponed to resume work after March 11.

Dongfeng Honda has three vehicle manufacturing plants in Wuhan, with a total production capacity of 632000 vehicles per year, including CR-V, Civic, XR-V and other best-selling models.

In 2019, Dongfeng Honda sold 789000 vehicles, exceeding the total designed capacity of the factory. In January 2020, Dongfeng Honda sold 73597 vehicles, up 21.3% from a year earlier, with Civic and CR-V terminal sales of more than 20, 000 units.

Honda's overall sales in China in January were 149863, up 9.8% from a year earlier, and Honda became the only one of the big four Japanese carmakers to ensure growth. In view of the fact that the Wuhan factory has been postponed to resume work again, it is bound to have a great impact on Honda's production and sales.

The shutdown of production at the factory has also prevented terminal sales at hundreds of Dongfeng Honda dealers. It is understood that Dongfeng Honda mainframe factory has cancelled the task assessment for dealers in February, provided financing support and acceptance extension to ease the financial pressure of dealers, and gave guidance to dealers' resumption of work and customer service during the epidemic.

According to Dongfeng Honda's new car plan, at least five new cars (including existing models) will be launched in 2020, including Civic hatchback version, shared 1.5L hybrid version, CR-V sharp hybrid e + (plug-in hybrid), new generation Feido sister version, and so on. Under the continuing influence of the epidemic, Dongfeng Honda's production rhythm has been forced to adjust, and the new car promotion plan will also be affected.

Honda China said earlier that its 2020 sales target would exceed its 2019 target of 1.554 million vehicles. With Dongfeng Honda's Wuhan plant stuck in a long-term shutdown, it will be more difficult to achieve Honda's full-year target.

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