TOKYO — Honda plunged to a 5.6 billion yen ($51.9 million) operating loss in the latest quarter amid slumping sales as the coronavirus pandemic hammered the global economy.
Operating profit swung into the red in fiscal fourth quarter ended March 31, from 42.3 billion yen ($392.4 billion) the year before, the Japanese automaker said in its earnings report on Tuesday.
Honda also booked a 29.5 billion yen ($273.6 million) net loss in the three-month period.
Revenue shriveled 15 percent to 3.46 trillion yen ($32.09 billion), as worldwide sales fell 28 percent to 981,000 vehicles in the January-March quarter.
Honda’s dismal results come as the global auto industry reels from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting slump in demand and regulations ordering factory closures.
Japanese rivals Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors, due to officially report earnings later this month, have already warned of losses in the fiscal year ended March 31. In the U.S., Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Ford Motor also booked losses in the January-March period.
Honda planned to gradually resume auto production in the U.S. and Canada from May 11, following the suspension of output in the region on March 23 and the furlough of workers.
Factories in Japan, Thailand, Vietnam and China were also in operation in early May, but output was suspended at plants in Mexico, Britain, Indonesia, Malaysia, India and Brazil.
Honda’s auto production in the fiscal year ended March 31 fell in Japan for the first time in four years, and it fell globally for the first time in eight years.
Japan’s operations have been a little more sheltered from the pandemic’s impact because output there is focused mostly on the domestic market, which has largely escaped the drastic lockdowns seen in other countries.
