Honda to suspend three Japanese plants in May over chip shortage

Honda Motor will suspend three plants in Japan as many as six days in May because of continued chip shortage, a spokesman said on Wednesday.

The automaker will suspend two plants in Saitama Prefecture for six days and its Suzuka plant in Mie Prefecture for five days, he said. The output reduction was reported earlier by Kyodo.

The suspension is due to a chip shortage caused by various factors, he said but hasn’t outlined the volume or models of vehicles affected. He said that the automaker will carefully examine the situation for production after June.

The chip shortage, which has hit automakers worldwide, emerges from a confluence of factors as automakers, which closed plants for two months during the coronavirus pandemic last year, rival against the sprawling consumer electronics industry for chip supplies.