Honda aims for full US production by August, except for Civic

May 26, 2011, 20:24 GMT

New York - Japan's car production took another step toward recovery from March's earthquake on Thursday when Honda announced it would have its 14 North American factories nearly up to full capacity by August.

The only exception was production of the 2012 Civic, which went on sale in April. It will be at 50 per cent capacity for coming months due to continuing supply problems in the aftermath of the earthquake. Honda aims to be back to full speed with Civics by the autumn.

'The light at the end of the tunnel is glowing brighter for us, represented by this significant improvement in our production situation,' John Mendel, executive vice president of US sales, said in the statement.

Honda, Japan's third-largest automaker, was forced to reduce production in the US after the country's devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami, which disrupted the parts chain.

Nissan and Toyota had similar problems, but have also begun to normalize the situation. Toyota aims to increase dealers' inventory by July, with a return to 70 per cent of pre-quake production in the US by June.

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