Electrical Equipment / Components & Telecoms

According to the observation report of Huacheng import and export data, because of the continuous shortage of some chips and the delay of parts purchase and logistics caused by the COVID-19, Honda, a major Japanese automobile factory, announced that its factory in Japan would reduce production in February 2023. Compared with the plan formulated in November 2022, the resident factory of Saitama Manufacturing Institute in Saitama County and the Suzuki Manufacturing Institute in Sanchong County would reduce production by about 10%. The production of the residential factory will be reduced by 20% in January 2023, and the production of the Suzuki Production Institute will maintain normal production in January.

According to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, Honda's residential factory mainly produces "Step WGN", "Free" and other vehicles, while Suzuki Manufacturing Institute mainly produces light vehicles "N series", SUV "VEZEL" and other vehicles.

In fact, according to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, as early as the end of last year, Honda Motor had predicted that the purchase and logistics of auto parts would be delayed due to multiple factors such as chip shortage and epidemic spread. Therefore, the factory of Saitama Manufacturing House, located in Saitama Prefecture, Japan, will continue to reduce production in the first ten days of January 2023, and the output will be reduced by 20% compared with the planned value in the first ten days of November. The factory mainly produces "StepWGN" "Civic" and other models will have to wait more than half a year for delivery on December 20, and the factory will continue to reduce production or further prolong the delivery time.

In terms of domestic sales, Honda China released its terminal car sales in January at the beginning of February. According to the observation report of Huacheng Import and Export Data, Honda's sales of China's terminal cars in January was 64193, a year-on-year decrease of 56.2%. Honda's official explanation said that the main reason was the impact of the Spring Festival holiday.

In terms of modules, the terminal sales volume of GAC Honda in January was 40284; Dongfeng Honda's terminal sales volume in January was 23909. Among them, the terminal sales volume of Honda's electric vehicles in January was 11158 (including hybrid vehicles).

The beginning of Honda's Chinese New Year has not broken the decline in 2022. Previous data showed that Honda China's cumulative sales volume in 2022 was 1.373 million, down 12.1% year on year. At that time, Honda China said that it was mainly affected by the epidemic.

Honda has publicly announced that due to the shortage of semiconductor and other components, the spread of the COVID-19 and the stagnation of logistics, its models will be reduced.

As for the decline of Honda's sales, some insiders believe that on the one hand, the strong rise of independent brands is eroding the market share of Japanese cars; On the other hand, Honda's pure electric field is relatively backward, resulting in its sales of pure electric vehicles have been tepid. According to the data, the average monthly sales of the two new energy products launched by Dongfeng Honda and GAC Honda in 2022 are less than 1000.

In order to accelerate the electric transformation and reverse the backward situation, Honda China began to adjust its organizational structure and internal personnel.

According to the report of Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, from April 1 this year, Honda Motor will begin to implement a new organization and operation system, establish a new electric business development headquarters, reorganize the regional headquarters organization system and reorganize the enterprise field organization system. According to the news, the electric business development department established by Honda this time will be mainly responsible for the development of automobile business strategy and pure electric products, as well as the business strategy and model development of motorcycles and other power products.

In addition, in terms of personnel, Inoue Shengshi, who strongly supports the transformation of electrification, was appointed as the head of the electric business development department. It also believed that "Honda should accelerate the electric and intelligent transformation in the Chinese market", "gradually expand the electric vehicle product line" and so on.

In addition to Honda, it is worth mentioning that Toyota, the leader of the Japanese auto industry, announced its financial report on February 9, pointing out that the global production target for this year (April 2022 - March 2023) was revised down from the original estimate of 9.2 million units to 9.1 million units, an increase of 6.2% year on year.

Previously, Toyota also announced on January 18 that due to the shortage of chips and other parts, among the 28 production lines of all 14 factories in Japan, 1 factory and 3 production lines will be shut down for 2 days during February 2023.

Toyota pointed out that the global production in February 2023 is estimated to be about 750000 units (about 300000 units in Japan and about 450000 units overseas). Toyota's global production in February will be lower than the original estimate of about 800000 units.