Honda Motor Co will discontinue gasoline vehicle production at one of its four plants in China and may do so at another plant as part of restructuring in the world’s largest auto market, a source close to the matter said Friday.
Honda will terminate output of gasoline vehicles at a plant jointly run by its local partner Guangzhou Automobile Group Co and will consider ending production at another joint venture plant set up with Dongfeng Motor Corp.
While Honda will keep running two electric vehicle plants as demand shifts in China to zero emission vehicles, the beleaguered carmaker aims to cut back its annual capacity of 960,000 gasoline vehicles in the country.
Honda is in the midst of revamping its EV operations and is expected to have plunged into a net loss in the year ended March 2026 for the first time since its listing in 1957.
Japan’s second biggest automaker built 680,000 vehicles in 2025 in China, down 16.4 percent amid intensifying price competition with local EV makers such as BYD Co.
Honda’s sales in the country stood at 36,000 vehicles in March, falling for the 26th straight month and far below more than 150,000 in the same month in 2021, as it falls behind Chinese rivals in launching new models.
© KYODO
