Honda’s Thailand assembly plant in Ayutthaya, which was submerged when floodwaters inundated the factory on October 9, may be out of action for up to six months, according to reports.
The automaker will need to replace a range of equipment damaged by the flood, and is still attempting to determine the full extent of the damage at its factory in the Rojana Industrial Park, where it produces its Civic and City models – the area remains submerged under two to three metres of water, and most of the flood-hit equipment remains inaccessible. The floodwaters are expected to recede in mid-November at the earliest.
The firm’s suppliers in Thailand have also been affected by the extensive flooding, as roads and other key infrastructure have been severely disrupted. “We will be forced to revamp the plant,” one Honda official was quoted as saying.
The reports add that the automaker has apparently told some of its suppliers that it will probably take six months before it can resume operations at the facility, and will likely not reopen the plant until next spring.
The company’s total production loss is expected to exceed 100,000 units, accounting for about 3% of the automaker’s planned global output for fiscal 2011. While Japan’s eight automakers have operations in the Southeast Asian nation, Honda is the only manufacturer whose facilities have been directly damaged by the floods. Honda Malaysia had last week announced a temporary halt to its production in Melaka as a result of parts shortages caused by the Thai floods.
In related news, Toyota has begun cutting output in seven countries – Japan, the US, Canada, South Africa, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines – from today until November 5 as a result of the flooding in Thailand. While its facilities in the Kingdom have not been directly hit by the floods, operation at its three factories in the country have been halted since October 10, and potential delays in the procurement of parts are expected.
Elsewhere, Mazda halted production at its AutoAlliance JV plant with Ford in Rayong from Wednesday to Friday last week, as parts shortages came into play. The company said it was considering shipping parts to the facility from China and Japan.
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move your factory here in Malaysia for future benefit might be a good idea right mr Honda?
the indonesia should be the second choice for foreign car manufacturer..
once Malaysia not open the market, it still not able to attract the them..
indonesia got earthquake la! why should it be the second choice after Thai?
Not good. Mercedes factory in Malaysia got submerged in Pekan not that long ago
Hope the flooding gone…Thailand pls don’t give up !
maybe they need to build factory in Malaysia as a backup.
My 2 cents.
tu la cheapskate sgt, orang suh buat kilang kat malaysia taknak dengar.
Ehh, u ingat buka Ramli burger stall kah? Cakap senang je..
Welcome to Malaysia Honda..
come and join us makan nasi lemak… bosan already right eating tom yam… :p
Yeah, come over to Malaysia, plenty of industrial land and infrastructure here.
Ya malaysia is such a nice place to be! No (frequent) natural disasters, efficient workers and good for us cos CKD cheaper!!!
if im a car manufacturer n i dont have any base in thailand , i will go into a advertising frenzy in order to ramp up sales and eat into civic/city buyers….
I foresee that honda will lose it’s no.4 spot in Malaysia this year.
Should Malaysia take advantage for this.. but pity …if still wants to protect the 27 years of spoon feeding national car maker
its got nothing to do with national car maker ok… mercedes is here already.. kia is here already… VW is here already…. apa lah
Decision to invest is mainly influenced by population la bro .. with 70mil population they are much preferred destination compared to Malaysia with only 28 mil population. After crisis in Thailand, i believe their next preferred destination would be Indonesia with 200 mil population. It’s better to have proton, we develop our own people and the technology is ours, but they must improve to compete globally.
Not good to have these draconian proton and perodua. bcoz of this 2 “tin everyday + tin sardine king cup” you’ll call national manufacturer, the car price here gone too much. almost 2 times increase of import car pricing is crazy indeed. what is the point of having national car manufacturer if they not even bother to taking into account their malaysian potential buyer. they sell their car to us rm55k but when they export it to foreign country, its all cost at only about rm35k. yg paling mengejutkan, mereka siap kasi sedia full spec lagi iaitu memenuhi standard antarabangsa. bayangkanlah….
Your argument is flawed leh… Thailand is no 1 market for pick up truck while Indonesia is No 1 market for compact MPV in southeast asia. malaysia is still the no 1 market for pasenger sedan in south east asia. Its not just about population.
Jangan bangga sgt jadi Detroit of Asia…
Poor Honda…first earthquake in japan, then floods in thailand, next is volcano eruption in indonesia??
I guess you are onto something…
and next 2 months water distruption due to burst dam in Melaka.
Thailand has been inundated by floodwater for weeks. Malaysia has been inundated with cronies and bias policies for years. It is a no brainer.
I will rather choose flood than to be in shark infested crony country.
How to come to Malaysia if government still want to protect Proton. Even VW CKD cars is force to increase price to protect them. Even their 1.2l engine is better then Perdana. Matter of time before Proton ask government to impose very high taxes on their 1.4l engine.
how do you know price of VW CKD cars? they launched CBUs earlier, not CKDs. if CKD with 40% local parts like Pug 407, you can see price drop from RM170k (CBU) to RM125k (CKD).
Proton not to worried about 407…125k also T&H still not fear, but when VW price is too competitive than u know lah…….how many people will start panic button
Pity to Thailand hope they could recover and Honda should invest in Malaysia since our cost labour and expertise quite same
LAter on, sure got cheap-cheap sparepart warehouse sales………
For those who have worked for the Japanese, they would know the real reason Japan businesses perefer Thailand hehehe!!!!
Spot on! They Japanese work hard and PLAY hard. The same reason Thailand have more middle east tourist than Malaysia. Here got Khalwat!!
Yup, for that “matter” we can’t compete with Thailand :P
One man’s LOSS is another man’s GAIN ….
Malaysia may gain from this …. if the G knows when to act …
Honda Thailand should relocate its plant to Honda Malysia’s plant in Melaka. Just expand the Honda plant in Melaka to assemble more Honda cars, then export to Thailand and other countries.