Honda Motor stated Wednesday it is temporarily stopping production in North America for six days due to the expected decline in auto sales because of the coronavirus outbreak and will decrease production by about 40,000 vehicles.
The Japanese automaker will postpone production starting March 23 and plans to get back to production March 31. It is also postponing operations at transmission and engine plants located in North America. Honda will keep making full payments to all of its associates and it will utilize the break to carry out deep cleaning of its production facilities.
The Honda facilities affected by temporarily closing include plants in Ohio, Indiana, Alabama, Canada and Mexico. Honda has no reported cases of coronavirus among workers in North America, the company stated.
Auto supplier Lear Corp stated after one confirmed COVID-19 case and one suspected case at its in Hammond, Indiana, plant it will close the facility for conducting deep cleaning and disinfection.
This week, the Detroit Three automakers and United Auto Workers (UAW) agreed to curtail production at U.S. plants and limit the amount of workers on the job at one time to avoid the spread of the coronavirus among roughly 150,000 factory workers.
The union and the automakers agreed to rotating partial close of facilities, extensive deep cleaning of facility and between shifts, extended periods between shifts, and extensive strategies to avoid member contact.
About 9,464 people in the United States have been confirmed as being infected with the coronavirus. The virus has killed about 155 people in the country.
