Upon reading the report in a British magazine, a lot of car enthusiast and car experts are thinking of good epitaphs for marvelous Honda would-have-been cars like the S2000 speed monster, beefed up Acuras, CR-Z hybrid, and V8 engines.The Japanese car maker is re-thinking its strategy and line of cars to mold their approach to market amid dwindling car sales around the globe.
Honda experienced an 18% drop of car sales in 2008. The December year over year performance was significantly lower by 35%. The tough times led to Honda’s decision of calling off the production of the NSX supercar scheduled to be out by 2010. The NSX super car was destined to have a V10 power plant in its engine bay.
A rear-driven Acura with a V8 engine was being designed by Honda to rival BMW. Plans of having this car by 2015 were also scrapped off. The V8 was seen as an unsuitable option because of the sky rocketing fuel prices.
Honda executives discloses that Honda will concentrate more on building more fuel efficient vehicles to better survive and deal with the current economic climate.
Other moves to mend the hard punch of the economic crisis include the following:
Honda decides to back out from F1 racing. This will enable them to cut on costs. This is a tough decision for the company since Honda has a long history in formula racing.
The new research and development center in Japan plus two other factories will not be opened soon. They are also delaying the release of new diesel fuels to the US and Japan. Company expansions to Turkey and India are also being delayed.
Salaries of the executives are also being trimmed by as much as 10%. Honda is expected to lay off around 450 people come February 2009.
No comments:
Post a Comment