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Japan’s Honda Motor Co. said Wednesday it plans to delay the start of operations at a new car plant in Argentina by about half a year until mid-2010 due to the economic crisis.
Honda, the second largest automaker in Japan, is investing 100 million dollars to build the plant in the central state of Buenos Aires. It is to employ 800 people and produce 30,000 cars a year, which is equivalent to about five to six percent of Argentine demand, the spokeswoman said.
Honda spokesman Hideto Maehara said the new plant, which is still being built, will not start operating until mid-2010.
“We have to adjust our production as demand in the global auto market continues to fall sharply,” he said. “Car sales have been very weak around the world, and we don’t really know when the market recovers.”
Apart from selling in Argentina, Honda planned to export vehicles to Brazil from the new plant. Maehara said the Argentine factory will employ 800 workers.
Battered by sluggish sales worldwide, Honda had already announced it will halt expansion in Japan as well as abroad, including Turkey and India. The Japanese auto giant also said last year it will quit backing a team in the high-cost Formula One competition.
