Honda Cars : Honda Shifts US Executives To Play Bigger Part In Global Vehicle Development | 2013 New Honda Car Reviews 0

by Ben Timmons of www.automobilemag.com

That the U.S. market is an important one for Honda is no surprise; neither is the fact that American Honda developers and engineers are playing a bigger role in engineering the cars the company sells. But Honda is playing a game of musical chairs at Honda North American Regional Operations to further boost American Honda’s share of the work.

Honda announced this morning that Tetsuo Iwamura’s job is growing. Currently the President of Honda North America, the COO of North American Regional Operations, and the President/CEO of American Honda Motor Company, he now adds COO of Automotive Operations and risk management officer for Honda Motor Co. to his list of responsibilities. That’s a lot of buzzwords and titles, but it all boils down to this: the man running American Honda operations will now head Honda’s international automotive operations.

Beneath Iwamura, Hidenobu Iwata will head a new company called Honda North America Services, LLC. HNAS will be headquartered in Marysville, Ohio (near Honda’s manufacturing plant) and will “provide common support functions and streamline coordination of R&D.” Again, a lot of buzzwords, but it seems to signal Honda’s commitment to putting American research and development at a higher level. Elsewhere around Honda’s North American operations, the executive vice president of Honda Canada Inc, Jerry Chenkin, will be promoted to CEO of Honda Canada.

The moves aren’t very big on paper, but if you give them a little bit of context it appears that Honda is shifting many of its research and development efforts away from Japan and to the United States. We already know that the next Civic will be designed and engineered here (in hopes of avoiding the 2012 model’s lackluster reviews), and Honda’s automotive crown jewel, the Acura NSX project, is taking shape in Ohio as you read this.

Source;
http://rumors.automobilemag.com/honda-shifts-us-executives-to-play-bigger-part-in-global-vehicle-development-206589.html#axzz2LvBOJvKb

Honda Cars : Honda Counters Weak Yen Criticism After U.S. Objections | 2013 New Honda Car Reviews 0

Hmmm, where were The American Automotive Policy Council when the yen was at a disadvantage for Japanese Auto Makers????

By Craig Trudell - Feb 8, 2013

 

Honda Motor Co., targeting record U.S. sales this year, said the weaker yen isn’t giving the Japanese company an advantage after a group representing U.S. automakers called for government intervention.

“I defy anybody, when we’re building 90 percent of what we sell here, to say we have a currency advantage,” John Mendel, the Tokyo-based company’s executive vice president of U.S. sales, said yesterday at a J.D. Power & Associates conference in Orlando, Florida. “I don’t think the current level of 90-plus yen to the dollar is a cause for alarm.”

Honda, Japan’s third-largest automaker, relies on the U.S. for more than 30 percent of its global sales. The American Automotive Policy Council, which represents Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC, said in January that President Barack Obama should tell Japan’s new government that the U.S. will retaliate for policies aimed at weakening the yen.

The yen, which has weakened more than any currency since mid-November, trades at about 93 to the dollar and 124 to the euro. Honda’s operating income gains by 16 billion yen annually for every 1-yen drop in the dollar rate, and 1 billion yen for each 1-yen drop in the euro rate, according to the company.

Honda on Jan. 31 cut its net income expectation for the year ending in March by 1.3 percent to 370 billion yen ($4 billion), countering other Japanese exporters that have raised their forecasts after the yen tumbled. The company cited a slower-than-expected recovery in sales in China and weakness in European demand.

‘Deathbed’ Rates

“Nobody worried about Japan” when the yen “went from 115 to 78, and said ‘Geez, I hope those guys are OK,’” Mendel told reporters yesterday. “Now all the sudden it’s moderately off deathbed kind of rates, and everybody’s going ‘Unfair.’ Let’s focus on the quality of products. Let’s focus on the customer.”

Honda’s American depositary receipts fell 1.1 percent to $37.89 at the close yesterday in New York. They’ve gained 3.4 percent for the 12 months ended Feb. 8 as the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 12 percent.

U.S. automakers have said the undervalued yen distorts trade and stunts job growth for American manufacturers. Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party, which reclaimed power in December, has let the yen continue its slide against the dollar, making U.S. auto exports relatively expensive, the American Automotive Policy Council said in a Jan. 17 statement.

“We urge the Obama administration to make it clear to Japan that such policies are unacceptable and will be met by reciprocal measures,” Matt Blunt, a former Republican governor of Missouri and president of the Washington-based industry group, said in last month’s statement.

‘Japanese Giant’

A weaker yen is “awakening the Japanese giant,” Adam Jonas, a New York-based analyst at Morgan Stanley, wrote in a Jan. 28 report. He said he expects market share for Honda, Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. to rebound on an improved ability to market their vehicles and equip them with better content and interior features.

“With the correction in the yen trend, they are likely to switch from a defensive to an offensive mode,” Jonas wrote of the Japanese automakers. “Short-term positives include access to a wider selection of pricing strategies with regards to incentives and cutting prices.”

Honda Incentives

Honda’s Mendel said he expects the company will reduce its incentives in the U.S. this year because of recently introduced models such as the revamped Civic small car and Accord sedan. Honda increased spending on marketing promotions last year by 3.9 percent to $2,206 a vehicle, as the industry average fell 1.7 percent to $2,482, according to researcher Autodata Corp.

U.S. sales for Honda climbed 24 percent to 1.42 million cars and light trucks last year, rebounding from natural disasters in Asia that disrupted production in 2011. Honda’s best year in the U.S. was 1.55 million Honda and Acura vehicles sold in 2007, and the company wants to exceed that mark in 2013, Tetsuo Iwamura, the automaker’s executive vice president, said last month at the Detroit auto show.

Output at the company’s North American plants surged last year to a record 1.69 million vehicles. Honda plans to be a net exporter as its plants in the U.S., Canada and Mexico take more responsibility for developing global models for sale in multiple countries, the company said in December.

“While the purpose of local production is really to build products close to the customer, this strategy also has minimized the effects of exchange rates in our business,” Mendel said.

Honda is adding a factory in Mexico to produce Fit hatchbacks starting in 2014. With the addition of that plant, Honda has said it will have capacity to build at least 1.9 million vehicles in North America annually.

“Renewed rhetoric about exchange rates giving an advantage to Japanese automakers just really doesn’t pass the sniff test,” Mendel said.

Source;
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2013-02-08/honda-counters-weak-yen-criticism-after-u-s-criticism.html

Honda Cars : Honda plants to resume full production | 2013 New Honda Car Reviews 0

Honda Motor's plants in Japan and North America are set to resume full production following disruption to parts caused by floods in Thailand.

Honda said full production in Japan at the Suzuka and Saitama factories will resume from 5 December while output at its six plants in the US and Canada will return to normal levels from tomorrow (1 December).

Production for January onwards will be decided while monitoring the situation.Honda said all water at the production facilities in Thailand had been removed and clean-up operations began today.

It said the outlook for resumption of production will continue to be carefully examined upon confirming the state of damage to the plant.

Honda said details of the estimated amount of loss and damage from the flood being assessed.

But it adds: "Should any material impact on the company's financial results for the fiscal year ending on March 31, 2012 be anticipated, the company will make a further announcement in a prompt manner."

Source;
http://www.stockmarketwire.com/article/4267293/Honda-plants-to-resume-full-production.html

Honda Cars : Honda Installs Wind Tunnel Amid $355 Million Ohio Plant Upgrades | 2013 New Honda Car Reviews 0

Honda Motor Co. is making $355 million of upgrades at plants in Ohio where it opened its first U.S. wind tunnel, seeking productivity and fuel-economy gains for models designed and built in North America.



The Ohio projects for Japan’s first company to make cars in the U.S. include $166 million of improvements to its factory in East Liberty and a $64 million stamping press at its Marysville plant, said Ron Lietzke, spokesman for the company’s assembly unit. Honda wouldn’t provide the cost of the wind tunnel or other additions to its engineering center in Raymond.



“The driver of the projects is to improve all our characteristics,” Lietzke said in an interview, declining to say whether the changes will lead to greater output. “If we end up increasing production capacity as a result, that’s fine,” he said, without elaborating.



Honda is refurbishing factories as it prepares to restore full North American production next month after parts shortages triggered by Japan’s March earthquake left Honda and Acura dealers short of models. The Tokyo-based company’s U.S. sales fell 2.6 percent this year through July, and market share shrank to 9.3 percent from 10.6 percent as industrywide deliveries rose 11 percent.



Output at Honda’s auto-assembly plants in the U.S., Canada and Mexico dropped 26 percent to 559,981 through July from 754,807 a year ago, according to company data.

Efficiency



Having opened Marysville in 1982, before Toyota Motor Corp. (7203), Nissan Motor Co. and other Asian companies began making cars in the U.S., Honda’s North America engineering and production units are among the region’s most sophisticated, said Jeffrey Liker, professor of engineering at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.



“By the most common productivity metrics, they’re among the most efficient,” said Liker, who studies automotive- assembly operations. “They have a history of developing exceptional people and actually keeping them. That allows them to accumulate knowledge and continue to learn.”



The Raymond R&D center, near the Marysville and East Liberty plants, is Honda’s main vehicle-development facility for the Americas. It’s responsible for designing and engineering the Pilot and Acura MDX sport-utility vehicles, Ridgeline pickup, Acura ZDX wagon and TL sedan, and North American version Odyssey minivan, all of which are built only in the region.



Fuel-Economy Push

Boosting fuel-economy on those models to meet tightening regulations is also its responsibility, Frank Paluch, senior vice present of Honda R&D Americas, said in an interview this month.

Last month, carmakers agreed to double the Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, to 54.5 mpg by 2025. The first phase for the industry is to reach a U.S. average of 35.5 mpg by 2016.



“We are very aware of those targets and where our responsibility is for CAFE within the lineup. There are set plans how to meet them,” Paluch said. “By the 2016 model introductions, we’ll target about an 18 percent improvement, specifically for our areas.”



Improvements will come through enhanced engine and transmission performance, lighter-weight materials, and smaller and more-efficient components, said Paluch.



Such “evolutionary” changes were used when Ohio engineers revamped the Odyssey last year, raising fuel economy 17 percent, he said. Hitting the 2025 goal is a “bit more gray,” he said.



“If consumers are buying a lot more hybrids, we can easily meet those requirements,” Paluch said. “If consumers don’t buy a lot more hybrids or don’t buy more battery-electric vehicles, we’re going to have to think about other ways to meet those goals.”



Wind Tunnel

Honda hasn’t previously acknowledged the Ohio wind tunnel that was built in late 2010. It will help engineers improve vehicle aerodynamics for further efficiency gains, said John Dirrig, a manager and chief engineer at the Raymond center.



“The ability to do that type of analysis as early as possible in the development phase of new vehicles is a big deal,” he said.



Toyota, Nissan and Hyundai Motor Co. (005380) don’t have wind tunnels in the U.S. Toyota’s Technical Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan, uses one nearby operated by affiliate Denso Corp., said Bruce Brownlee, a Toyota spokesman.



Honda’s is a “half-scale” tunnel, intended for early prototypes.



‘Not Just a Big Fan’

Such a device may cost $25 million, while a full-size wind tunnel is at least $100 million, said Frank Ohlemacher, project manager at the Ohio State University’s Center for Automotive Research in Columbus. “This is sophisticated equipment, not just a big fan,” Ohlemacher said.

Honda won’t say how much it’s invested in Raymond, where more than 1,000 engineers work at desks in a central hall the length of 2.5 football fields, or 750 feet. It also has a crash- test center and laboratories to test electromagnetic interference and the effect of heat, rain and cold on vehicles.



Along with the Ohio upgrades, Honda said in March it’s spending $94 million to modify its Lincoln, Alabama, plant that builds Odysseys and Pilots. This month Honda said it will build an $800 million plant in central Mexico that will make 200,000 small cars a year after it opens in 2014.



Honda’s American depositary receipts, representing one ordinary share, rose 69 cents, or 2.3 percent, $31.30 yesterday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Its U.S. unit is based in Torrance, California.



Source;

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-25/honda-adds-wind-tunnel-in-ohio-amid-355-million-in-auto-plant-upgrades.html