Honda Cars Philippines, Inc. (HCPI) has reached out to us in connection with the news of Honda consolidating its production bases in Thailand amidst strengthening Chinese competition in Southeast Asia.
As a bit of a background, Honda will focus finished vehicle production at its Prachinburi plant. Citing tougher market conditions due to the increased popularity of battery electric vehicles and the entrance of more Chinese brands in Southeast Asia, particularly in Thailand, Honda will turn its Ayutthaya plant into a parts manufacturing site by 2025. Production will be consolidated at the Prachinburi plant. Currently, the Ayutthaya Plant is where HCPI sources the Accord, CR-V, and Civic.
You can read HCPI’s full answer below, but in gist, the Japanese carmaker is emphasizing that the Ayutthaya Plant will not be shut down or closed. Instead, it will take on a new role, manufacturing parts for Honda vehicles.
Finished vehicle production and assembly, meanwhile, will be consolidated at the Prachinburi plant. In fact, Honda will make additional investments to accelerate the production and roll out of more electrified vehicles out of this assembly plant.
Finally, the consolidation of Honda’s Thailand manufacturing bases WILL NOT affect Philippine customers as products sourced from the Ayutthaya Plant will simply be moved to the Prachinburi plant.
Honda Cars Philippines answer:
With the end of vehicle production at the Ayutthaya Assembly Line, this plant will evolve into a parts production and supply base and not be shut down.
The Ayutthaya plant will continue applying production technology and supply chain methods that we have cultivated over the years as it takes on a new role as a parts factory.
The finished vehicle production will be transferred to Prachinburi plant to strengthen our corporate structure to accelerate the shift towards xEV models.
Thus, all of the vehicle assembly, including the models for Philippines, will be transferred to Prachinburi and not affect customer vehicle deliveries.
Half of Honda's products being already sold for/in the Philippine market were generally manufactured prior to the closure of Honda's manufacturing facility within the Philippines in 2020, thus unlike its fellow compatriots, Honda is currently the only Japanese carmaker - as of today - that does not manufacture nor reserve/prep its cars for service usage such as taxis, ambulances, fire department vehicles, police cruisers, etc. (something like LCVs as if you notice in the past that Honda used to partner with Isuzu while that relationship was exclusive to Thailand in particular).
ReplyDeleteAs with a number of carmakers I have been wondering even today, Honda therefore may have no choice but to make an idea of partnering with Toyota as the former have already made a similar venture with Nissan back in March this year, especially just as the rest of its fellow Japanese automobile companies then Honda is no exception as it no longer possess a manufacturing facility in Europe since Honda closed down its British plant three years ago (2021). Honda likewise may find a way to rebadge Nissan's products (which are also shared with Renault per hardware) but as having remembered before that Honda's vehicles aren't known for doing well in rough conditions compared to Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi for examples...
This is strange because Honda Mobilios are taxis in Indonesia
DeleteHCPI imports handful of brand new Civic and CRV units Thailand every 2 months according to my friend who works as a salesman at a Honda Cars dealership
ReplyDeleteNew Honda Accord HEV is also assembled in that plant though HCPI stopped selling Accord Sedans due to very low demand for it and pricing issues
EV version of the HRV is expected to sell very well in Thailand and Indonesia that is if the price is right
For business sustainability and to compete with compact SUV (crossover) market in our country, Honda should start bringing it models from India the like of WRV. Also, better pricing as Honda models now are very expensive.
ReplyDelete