The Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co. sank deeper into losses for the fiscal quarter that led to March because the damage to the industry from the coronavirus outbreak hurt sales and crimped production.
Tokyo-based Honda reported Tuesday a January-March loss of 29.5 billion yen ($276 million). The maker of the Odyssey minivan and Asimo robot had reported a 13 billion yen loss for an equivalent period in 2019 when it had been hurt by various expenses and an unfavorable rate of exchange. Quarterly sales declined almost 15% to just about 3.5 trillion yen ($32 billion).
Honda, which also makes motorcycles, didn’t provide forecasts for the present financial year due to uncertainties caused by the pandemic.
It said it’ll give projections as soon as possible. The last time Honda was unable to supply any annual forecast was after the March 2011 tsunami, quake and nuclear disaster that hit northeastern Japan, where Honda had production plants. “Honda has faced serious problems before, and Honda has overcome them before. we’ll roll in the hay again, working as a team at Honda,” President Takahiro Hachigo told reporters.
Honda’s production has resumed within the U.S. and China but still stopped in some places in Asia, also like Mexico and Brazil. For the financial year led to March, Honda reported a 25% drop by profit at 455.7 billion yen ($4.3 billion). Honda stressed it had been putting the security of its workers, dealers, suppliers, and customers first.
Rival Toyota Motor Corp. also reported dismal earnings earlier within the day. Japan’s top automaker logged a net income of 63.1 billion yen ($590 million) for the quarter led to March, nose-diving 86% from the year before. Nissan Motor Co., whose fortunes are rocky since its former Chairman Carlos Ghosn was arrested then escaped to Lebanon while awaiting trial, reports financial results later this month.
