AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)09/10 Report--

On September 10, Dongfeng Honda officially said: "in order to ensure the sustainable operation of the enterprise and accelerate the electric transformation, Dongfeng Honda further improves the efficiency of personnel in the field of production." this personnel optimization is a phased adjustment of the enterprise's strategic transformation, we will adhere to the "people-oriented" corporate philosophy, fully consider the wishes of employees, and formulate reasonable solutions in accordance with the rules and regulations. "

Earlier, there were media reports that Dongfeng Honda was making major layoffs, which is expected to affect 2000 employees. Dongfeng Honda will compensate laid-off employees with "N" for years of service, "2" for two months' salary and bonus for an additional month. Due to the higher compensation standards, the compensation policy has even been queued for places by employees. In addition, it is reported that the company is suspected of holding a special farewell ceremony for laid-off employees.

In the domestic market, Honda has two joint venture brands Dongfeng Honda and Guangzhou Auto Honda in China. Among them, Dongfeng Honda was established in July 2003, jointly funded by Dongfeng Motor Group Co., Ltd., Honda Technology Research Industry (China) Investment Co., Ltd., and Honda Technology Research Industry Co., Ltd., with the proportion of 50%, 10% and 40% respectively. According to the official website, Dongfeng Honda currently has three major production plants with a capacity of 768000 vehicles per year. However, with the sharp decline in the market share of fuel vehicles, joint venture brands with fuel vehicles as the main sales force generally face the problems of declining sales and overcapacity. For this reason, in recent years, many car companies have begun to sell their factories, and the closure and merger has also been staged in the field of joint venture brands.

Honda is no exception. As early as July, Honda China announced that it would close two factories. Among them, Guangzhou Auto Honda plans to close the fourth production line with an annual production capacity of 50, 000 units in October 2024. Dongfeng Honda plans to shut down the second production line with an annual production capacity of 240000 units in November 2024. After the adjustment, Honda's total car production capacity in China has been increased from 1.49 million to 1.2 million. At the same time, Dongfeng Honda's new electric dedicated plant under construction will be put into production in September 2024, and Guangzhou Auto Honda's new new energy plant will be put into production in November 2024. Honda plans to make up for capacity cuts through two new electric car plants under construction, which are expected to restore capacity to 1.44 million vehicles.

The optimization of Dongfeng Honda's implementation personnel may also be a helpless move. At present, it is in the stage of electric transformation. According to the plan, by 2025, the proportion of Dongfeng Honda electric products will exceed 50%. More than 10 pure electric models will be launched in 2030. In this context, reducing costs and improving efficiency are the goals of global automakers, especially in the environment of the transformation of new energy vehicles, personnel optimization has become an effective measure to "cut costs and improve efficiency".

As one of Honda's joint venture brands in China, Dongfeng Honda also had a highlight moment. From 2015 to 2017, Dongfeng Honda's annual production and sales jumped from 300000 vehicles to 700000 vehicles, according to the data. Of these, sales in 2017 were 727000, and the cumulative terminal sales in 2020 were 820400, an increase of 104.0% over the same period last year, the highest in the history of annual sales. Unfortunately, this highlight moment did not last long, and soon Dongfeng Honda sales fell. From 2018 to 2022, Dongfeng Honda's terminal market sales were 697000, 789000, 820000, 793000 and 652000 respectively.

According to the latest Honda official figures, Honda's terminal car sales in China in August were 56959, down 44.29% from a year earlier, the seventh consecutive month of decline in Honda's sales in China. Honda's cumulative sales in the first eight months were 525432, down 27.19% from a year earlier, but Honda did not disclose the sales of two joint ventures, Guangzhou Auto Honda and Dongfeng Honda.

Of course, the unsatisfactory development of Honda's joint ventures in China is not alone. Among Japanese brands, only FAW Toyota and Guangzhou Automobile Toyota made it into the top 10 in July, with FAW Toyota down 5.1 per cent to 72000 vehicles and Guangzhou Automobile Toyota down 21.0 per cent to 63000 vehicles, according to the latest retail sales list released by the FIFA. Dongfeng Nissan, Guangzhou Automobile Honda and Dongfeng Honda all fell out of the list.

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