Boeing Seeks FAA Emissions Waiver to Continue 777F Freighter Sales Amid Strong Cargo Demand 
Volaris and Viva Agree to Merge, Creating Mexico’s Largest Low-Cost Airline Group 
Dina Powell McCormick Resigns From Meta Board After Eight Months, May Take Advisory Role 
Sanofi’s Efdoralprin Alfa Gains EMA Orphan Status for Rare Lung Disease 
FedEx Beats Q2 Earnings Expectations, Raises Full-Year Outlook Despite Stock Dip 
Oracle Stock Slides After Blue Owl Exit Report, Company Says Michigan Data Center Talks Remain on Track 
Oracle Stock Surges After Hours on TikTok Deal Optimism and OpenAI Fundraising Buzz 
Union-Aligned Investors Question Amazon, Walmart and Alphabet on Trump Immigration Policies 
Bridgewater Associates Plans Major Employee Ownership Expansion in Milestone Year 
Elliott Management Takes $1 Billion Stake in Lululemon, Pushes for Leadership Change 
Instacart Stock Drops After FTC Probes AI-Based Price Discrimination Claims 
U.S. Lawmakers Urge Pentagon to Blacklist More Chinese Tech Firms Over Military Ties 
Trump Administration Reviews Nvidia H200 Chip Sales to China, Marking Major Shift in U.S. AI Export Policy 
Harris Associates Open to Revised Paramount Skydance Bid for Warner Bros Discovery 
Toyota to Sell U.S.-Made Camry, Highlander, and Tundra in Japan From 2026 to Ease Trade Tensions 
Apple Opens iPhone to Alternative App Stores in Japan Under New Competition Law 
Maersk Vessel Successfully Transits Red Sea After Nearly Two Years Amid Ongoing Security Concerns 
Honda Motor Co. announced early this week that it would be halting its production at its major plants in the U.S. and Canada. The company stated that the work suspension would last only a week.
Causes of the work disruptions
As per Reuters, the spokesperson for Honda revealed that the company would temporarily stop all production activities in the entire week starting March 22. The Japanese automaker cited chip shortage due to the unavoidable effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It was added that aside from this, the company was also affected by the severe weather and congestion at different ports. For these reasons, Honda was forced to suspend all the production works in some of its factories across North America.
The car manufacturer did not indicate the number of vehicle units impacted. However, it shared that the company’s production and purchasing teams are working to minimize the effect of the situation. The company added that the length of production adjustments could change, but the workers may still continue to work in Honda’s factories.
The list of affected plants
At any rate, Bloomberg reported that some of the Honda plants that will be closed for a week include the one in Marysville, Ohio, Indiana, Alabama, and Ontario, Canada. It is hoped that work suspension will only be for a week.
In 2020, Honda was able to churn out 1.45 million vehicle units in North America. Although this is a lot, the production rate was down by 20% compared to 2019’s record. The automaker has a total of 12 plants in the U.S. and one in Canada.
Vice president of vehicle forecasting company, AutoForecast Solutions, Sam Fiorani, stated that normally, Honda makes around 30,000 units per week. Thus, it is predicted that the company will lose this much sales for this number of vehicles.
Meanwhile, the chip shortage is still a big problem among automakers because, despite the efforts to boost the production of the much-needed chips to meet the demands worldwide, semiconductor companies are still not able to produce as much. In fact, Toyota Motor Corp is also temporarily halting its own production next week due to the same issues as with Honda.
