Honda is to start hybrid vehicle production in Thailand, following a similar move in the US in April.
Honda will ship batteries and other key components made in Japan to Thailand this summer and assemble these into finished products.
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Thailand imposes heavy duties on automobiles imported from overseas and local assembly will help reduce Honda’s costs.
Over the medium term, Honda aims to start making hybrid vehicles in China.
Honda will make the Fit Hybrid at a plant in Ayutthaya, central Thailand, aiming to release the small car as the Jazz Hybrid as early as this summer.
At present, Honda manufactures the Fit Hybrid only in Japan.
Honda’s assembly facility in Ayutthaya has an annual capacity of 240,000 units. The plant suspended operations for six months last fiscal year, from October to late March, following floods.
