Honda: Still Exporting From Japan

Despite rumors and the yen being at a 15-year high against the American dollar, Honda's chief financial officer said he does not see vehicle exports from Japan 'falling' anytime soon.

"Our export models are the CR-V and hybrids, but the CR-V is selling well in the US and production of the model is at full capacity (in the US), so we have no choice but to export from Japan," Yoichi Hojo said in a meeting.

He stated that as production volume of hybrid vehicles is not very great (around 200,000 hybrids annually) it is more efficient to produce them at a Japanese plant. Honda hopes to produce 72,000 CR-V small sport-utility vehicles in Japan, of which half of them are headed to the US market.

Japanese auto makers are gearing up to build vehicles overseas in order to fight the threat of the yen's appreciation, and to provide vehicles at a lower cost to the local markets.

It is tough to respond quickly to the currency's sudden strength as it takes months to plan facilities needed to raise output at overseas factories.

Hojo stated that one way Honda is working on ideas to cope with the strong yen is by using lower-cost parts made in China, India or other overseas countries.

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[SOURCE] http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110201-720554.html