Honda to cut North America production, salaries: report

The Japanese automaker Honda has said it will further cut North American production and salaries amid plunging car sales, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. Honda will reduce output by 62,000 units over three months starting May 1.
The company had already cut North American production by 204,000 units since August, bringing its output to 1.25 million vehicles for the fiscal year that ended on March 31, a company spokesman told the paper.
The Japanese auto manufacturer, whose sales in the United States have fallen 33 percent in the first two months of the year compared to 2008, intends to enact the cuts through 13 non-production days. Pay for all North American hourly employees would be suspended for six of those days.
"This marks the first time Honda has taken such a move. In the past Honda, like Toyota, offers to pay its workers to come to the factories and partake in training or maintenance activities," the newspaper noted.