Honda Cars won't hike prices

MANILA, Philippines - Honda Cars Philippines Inc. (HCPI) announced yesterday will not implement any price increases despite the contraction in the supply of automobiles as a result of the twin disasters in Japan.

In a press conference, newly appointed HCPI president and general manager Katsuya Natsume said that they are not considering any price hikes. However, Natsume said they cannot say until when the prices will remain.

 “Everything is unstable at the moment,” Natsume said. Aside from the shortness in supply, he noted that the price will be dependent on foreign exchange, prices of materials and oil.

As of the moment, HCPI’s plant is operating at 50 percent capacity. Before the crisis, they used to produce 45 to 50 units of City and Civic per day.

Even with the production cuts, Natsume said that they have not laid off any worker or forced anybody to go on leaves. He said that while others are in production, the remaining staff are undergoing training. The Sta Rosa plant has 400 workers while Honda as a whole has 650 employees.

 “What is important is that we keep on operating,” Natsume stressed.

He said another option is to cut their working days in half. They are now working six days a week. He said an option is to make it a three-day work week but at the moment they are comfortable with their decision to simply cut their output.

Natsume explained that they have to cut their production for May because the supply of raw materials in Japan is still erratic. He said the production situation in Japan is yet to normalize and they think the earliest time possible that production will normalize is by the end of the year. “By the end of the year there is a high chance it will normalize,” Natsume said.

Natsume said they have not received new shipment of microcomputers from Renesus, the company producing a vital microchip for Honda cars. He said all their vehicles have this microcomputer that is why their entire production is affected. Natsume said Renesus has completely stopped its production and will only resume operations by June.

He said they are now using up their inventory of microchip and they have decided to assemble only half of the vehicles they normally produce in order to make the supply last longer.