HONDA INDIA STOP PRODUCTION OF BRIO

       HONDA INDIA STOP PRODUCTION OF BRIO

The India unit of Honda Motor Co. said Wednesday it has halted manufacturing of the Brio hatchback because of a shortage of parts from Thailand, caused by floods in the Southeast Asian country.

" We have run out of parts for the Brio and have had to suspend production of the model in this month, " said Jnaneswar Sen, senior vice president for marketing and sales at Honda Siel Cars India Ltd.

Honda India sources some electronic and under-body car parts from Thailand.

Honda Siel LTD, which is 99.9% owned by Honda and 0.1% by India's Siel Ltd., makes the Brio and Jazz hatchbacks as well as the mid-sized City and Accord sedans at its factory at Greater Noida in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. It also sells the CR-V sport-utility vehicle by importing them.

Honda Siel LTD can produce up to 100,000 cars a year at the Greater Noida facility.

" The situation is much worse than November," Mr. Sen said. "Our production this month will be much lower than last month "

Mr. Sen said the company is "trying to arrange sourcing parts from the same vendors in other countries but our key three volume models--Jazz, Brio &  the City--continue to be quite low."

Honda Siel sold 1,982 vehicles in November.

Source - wsj