WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Honda Motor Co. said late Tuesday that supply chain issues would halt production at a majority of U.S. and Canadian car plants for a week.
The Japanese carmaker added that the issue will decrease next week at all US and Canadian plants, citing “the impact of COVID-19, congestion in various ports, the shortage of microchips and severe winter weather over the past few weeks.”
“Somehow, all of our car plants in the U.S. and Canada will be affected,” Honda said.
Some U.S. and Canadian plants are expected to have smaller production cuts next week, but a Honda spokesman added that “the timing and length of production adjustments could change.”
The company declined to specify the number of vehicles affected, but said “purchasing and production teams are working to limit the impact of this situation.”
The company added that when production ceased, Honda workers would “have the opportunity to work at the factories.” Honda workers were notified of the production cut on Monday.
Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions, said Honda typically produces about 30,000 vehicles a week in the United States and Canada.
The production issues hit Honda plants in Ontario, Ohio, Alabama and Indiana. Honda said its operations in Mexico have not announced any production cuts.
The disk shortage, which has hit most of the global automakers, stems from a confluence of factors as automakers, which shut down factories for two months during the COVID-19 pandemic last year, are vying with the vast consumer electronics industry for disk supplies.
General Motors Co. cut production at many plants, warning that it could shave up to $ 2 billion in earnings for the year.
GM’s US rival Ford Motor Co earlier said the shortfall could hurt 2021 to $ 2.5 billion in profits, saying it had hampered production of its flagship F-150 pickup.
Reporting by David Shepardson and Ben Klayman; Edited by Shri Navaratnam and Christopher Cushing