Honda opened its fifth plant in China
- Honda, which had until now of four factories in China (Zengcheng, Wantong, Huangpu and Wuhan) has now opened its fifth assembly plant. This one is located in Guangzhou, it is thanks to the partnership that the Japanese manufacturer concluded since 1998 with the Chinese assembler GAC. The capacity of this new plant is 120 000 vehicles per year. The total capacity of Honda in China will hence increase from 960 000 to 1 080 000 vehicles per year, while in 2015, Honda sold 960 000 vehicles in China, resulting in a saturation of its existing plants.
- Honda expects more than one million sales in China in 2016 and therefore needed new capacity to meet this objective. On the other hand, the Japanese carmaker expects a slowdown in the Chinese auto market in the coming years. It therefore decided to postpone to 2017 the construction of a sixth assembly plant in China (Wuhan), this time with the Chinese assembler Dongfeng with whom Honda also collaborates, while the construction of this sixth plant was planned for 2016.
- It is evident from this decision that Honda no longer expects to sell 1 200 000 vehicles in China in 2017 but to reach this objective in 2018. First, because the Chinese market will not be so euphoric in the future than it was in the past and secondly because production overcapacity are still ubiquitous in China at present (especially for 100% Chinese manufacturers ), although Honda is not specifically affected by this problem. Inovev notes that in 2015 only two manufacturers have announced the construction of new plants: Changan in Chongqing and Toyota in Guangzhou.
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