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Honda Drops 2017 Sales Target Amid Quality Woes
Honda Motor Co. has shelved plans to push its annual sales volume to 6 million units by 2017.
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Honda Motor Co. has shelved plans to push its annual sales volume to 6 million units by 2017.
Instead, CEO Takanobu Ito says, the company will refocus on overcoming quality lapses that triggered record-high recalls in 2014.
Most notably, the company has called back 5.4 million vehicles in the U.S. alone last year to replace defective airbag inflators supplied by Takata Corp. It also has recalled its redesigned Fit minicar five time and its Venzel small crossover three times in less than two years to fix significant defects. One campaign is updating a transmission software glitch in both vehicles that could prevent them from moving.
Separately, Ito says Honda won't bail out Takata, which estimates replacing its faulty inflators will push the company into a 31 billion-yen ($261 million) loss in the current fiscal year. Honda owns 1.2% of Takata and is its largest customer.
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