Honda to Source SUVs for Europe from Japan

Honda Motor Co. will tap unused production capacity in Japan to supply the European market with its compact CR-V and subcompact HR-V crossover vehicles.

Honda has been assembling European CR-Vs in Swindon, England. But the company said late last year it intended to source the next-generation model from its factory in Ontario, Canada, beginning in September 2018. The European HR-V currently is made in Mexico.

Now Honda tells Automotive News it has decided to move both models to Japan next year to bolster output at its home plants. Other Japanese carmakers have been adopting the same strategy. Even so, analysts IHS Markit predict Japan’s annual domestic auto output will slide below 8.5 million vehicles by 2020 from 9.2 million units today.

Last year Japan’s shipments of cars to Europe rose 20% to 577,700 units, according to European auto industry trade group ACEA.