Honda makes parts in RP

Honda makes parts in RP

TOKYO (AFP): Several Japanese auto parts makers supplying to Honda Motor Co. plan to start production in the Philippines next year in line with the carmaker's efforts to produce low-priced cars.

A Honda spokesman yesterday acknowledged the move, saying the carmaker "has been asking them (suppliers) to reduce costs."

Parts to be produced in the Philippines, possibly at an industrial park in the Manila suburbs, will be sold to Honda's manufacturing unit there, and exported to other Asian countries, such as Thailand and Indonesia, as well as to Japan, the spokesman said.

Honda assembles 12,000 Civic and Accords in the Philippines for local sale.

Yutaka Giken Corp., a major Honda supplier based in Shizuoka, central Japan, will start production of car and motorcycle parts in the Philippines in January next year, a company official said.

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun said five other companies would follow suit.

One parts maker was quoted as saying by the leading business daily that the move would cut costs by at least 20 percent.