Honda Motor Co. Ltd. announced yesterday its automobile production statistics for the month of February 2014, and by the looks of things, the carmaker is fresh off what had been a banner month in terms of worldwide production and production within its home market of Japan.
Vehicle production within Japan was at 84,883 units in the month of February, a sizable increase of 40.6 percent year-over-year, while year-to-date production for the first two months of 2014 is now at 182,028, marking an even bigger year-over-year increase of 52.8 percent. Outside of Japan, Honda manufactured a total of 268,126 units last month, a new record for the month of February, boosting year-to-date figures to 549,699. YTD production outside of Japan is down 0.4 percent year-over-year, but the record February production allowed Honda to enjoy a modest 0.1 percent increase in units manufactured outside of the home market, as compared to February 2013’s figures. In all, Honda manufactured a total of 353,009 vehicles in February, marking a new February record for overall, or worldwide sales. This is a 7.5 percent increase as compared to the number of vehicles produced worldwide in February 2013.
Other interesting takeaways in terms of production stats included Honda experiencing a year-over-year increase in Japanese production for the sixth straight month in February, and the automaker’s production outside of Japan experiencing a year-over-year increase for the first time since December 2013. Worldwide production, on the other hand, ticked up year-over-year for the seventh straight month.
Vehicle sales in the Japanese market for February 2014 were up year-over-year for the seventh straight month, dating to August 2013; in specific, Honda had 39,986 registrations (up 39.2 percent year-over-year), 45,936 mini-vehicle sales (up 22 percent year-over-year), and a total of 85,922 vehicles sold in Japan (up 29.4 percent year-over-year). Year-to-date, Honda has sold 177,426 vehicles in its home market, an increase of 45.4 percent from the YTD total in February 2013. With the exception of mini-vehicles, the Honda Fit was the automotive industry’s third most popular car in terms of sales, having sold 18,303 units in February 2014. The Honda N-WGN was the second best-selling mini-vehicle, selling 19,254 units last month, and the N-BOX was third in this category, selling 18,329.
Export figures were far from being as healthy as Honda’s production and sales figures, as total exports decreased year-over-year for a fourth straight month. In all, Honda had exported 1,987 vehicles in February 2014, a decrease of 81 percent from the previous February, and year-to-date exports are now at 5,751, 74.2 percent down on a year-over-year basis. In terms of individual markets, the lion’s share of the exports were to North America (1,271 including the United States), followed by Asia (754).