Honda Motor announced plans to permanently shut down its Mooka engine parts plant in Japan’s Tochigi Prefecture in 2025, reflecting the global shift towards electric vehicles (EVs), according to local reports.
The carmaker said in April it planned to produce only battery-powered and fuel-cell electric vehicles globally by 2040.
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The closure is part of a broader move by Honda to improve its global manufacturing efficiency through factory consolidation, starting with the 2017 announcement of the closure of a vehicle assembly plant in Sayama, Saitama Prefecture.
This latest announcement affects 900 workers who will be relocated to other group manufacturing sites.
Honda announced a 95% jump in global output to 414,532 vehicles in April 2021, helped by record output in China, while total volume in the first four months of the year increased by 29% to 1,498,909 units as global demand rebounded from depressed year earlier levels.
Sales in Japan were down by just over 1% at 229,662 units in the first four months of the year, according to the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association.
