Honda to Delay Start of Operations of New Auto Plant in Yorii

TOKYO, Japan, March 26, 2009 - Honda Motor Co., Ltd. today announced plans to delay the start of operations of a new auto plant which is currently under construction in Yorii, Saitama.

The start of operations of the new auto plant in Yorii was initially scheduled for 2010; however, a delay of more than one year was decided in December 2008 due to the global market slowdown which began in the latter half of last year. As there is no sign of market recovery on the horizon, Honda decided to delay the start of operations for at least one more year.

The new auto plant in Yorii will employ various advanced technologies to establish high-quality and highly-efficient manufacturing systems and will be responsible for sharing such technologies to other Honda operations worldwide. Honda will further advance manufacturing technologies in Japan and, once the new engine plant in Ogawa and the new auto plant in Yorii become operational, refine automobile technologies which will support the next 100 years of automobile industry.

In addition, the new auto plant in Yorii will strive to become a resource/energy-recycling Green Factory which will improve resource/energy efficiency to significantly reduce the amount of CO2 generated to produce each vehicle.