Honda Motorcycle Production Totals 200 Million

Japanese motorcycle manufacturer Honda today announced that its moto production reached 200 million units since 1949 when the company built the first Dream D-type model. Honda owns no less than 32 production facilities in 22 countries around the world, with R&D centers in U.S., Germany, Italy, Thailand, China and India. Moreover, Honda says that its annual sales exceeded 10 million units in 2004 while in 2007, they reached a record of 13.47 million sold motorcycles. Although it may sound impossible in the context of the global economic crisis, the company predicts sales of more than 18 million units in 2010.

And since we're talking about the global recession, Honda is one of the first companies that announced job cuts and lowered production in the North American market, together with two other motorcycle giants, Suzuki and Yamaha. Honda reduced the number of motorcycles to be built in the United States by 100,000 units after the whole motorcycle industry recorded lowered demand.

On the other hand, Honda also encountered problems in the automotive market, with production reduced in both the Japanese and non-Japanese factories. “Production in Japan for the first half of the current fiscal year experienced a year-on-year decrease for the second consecutive year (since the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008),” the Japanese company said in a press statement.

However, Honda had pretty good sales in Japan, according to the same press release. “Total Japan domestic market auto sales for the first half of the current fiscal year experienced a year-on-year increase for the first time in three years (since the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006),” it said.