Honda's Fukui Says Worst is Over, Sees 2nd-Half Improvement
 Honda |
MORE: Honda Specs, Prices and Reviews-Honda Buyers Guide
Washington DC May 17, 2009; The AIADA newsletter reported that Honda Motor Co.'s earnings will hit bottom this year and improve beyond that as demand in the United States returns in the second half, CEO Takeo Fukui said.
According to Automotive News, Japan's number-two automaker lost $1.95 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008-09 and forecast a 71 percent drop in net profit for the fiscal year ending March 2010. A key element in the earnings deterioration across the industry in the past year has been the slide in U.S. sales—18 percent last year and 37.4 percent through April of this year.
Honda was the only top Japanese carmaker to stay in the black last year. Executives have cited Honda's profitable and world-leading motorcycle business as a major boost, but Fukui says another factor that gets little mention was the vast drop in warranty and other costs last year.
Beyond those factors, Honda's more visible strength lies in its lineup heavy in smaller and fuel-efficient cars. In addition to its popular Insight, Honda is scheduled to roll out several low-cost hybrid cars over the next few years, including a gasoline-electric version of the Fit subcompact, and expects about one-tenth of its global sales to be hybrids by around 2015.
