Flood in Thailand : Official Honda Malaysia statement

Honda Malaysia informs effects of plant suspension in Thailand

Petaling Jaya, 13^th September 2011 – Honda Automobile (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (“HATC”, Ayutthaya plant) is forced to halt production due to severe floods that are hitting Thailand now. Honda Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. (“Honda Malaysia” or “the Company”) today informs its customers of the effect of the shutdown on Malaysia’s plant.

“We would like to express our deepest condolences to the flood victims in Thailand and we hope that the country would make prompt recovery from the damages imposed by the natural disaster,” said Mr. Yoichiro Ueno, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Honda Malaysia.

The suspension of HATC’s plant production in Ayutthaya area has an inevitable impact on Honda Malaysia’s production as HATC, along with its suppliers in the same region whose operations are also suspended, provides considerable number of parts for the Malaysian CKD (complete knocked down) models namely City, Civic, Accord and CR-V.

Since this Monday, Honda Malaysia has reduced its output in Melaka to prolong the production using on-hand stock. “We regret that there will be delay in product delivery as the production in our plant slows down due to the suspension of parts supply. Currently, the delivery timing for all our CBU (complete built-up) units are not affected,” Mr. Yoichiro added.

“At the time of statement, the HATC remains flooded and it is unapproachable. This is making it difficult for us to estimate the time of recovery. However, we will assess the situation closely on a daily basis and hope for the best though we foresee the recovery may take longer than we originally expected. We would like to thank our customers for their understanding and support and we will continue to provide the best products and services despite the challenging situation the company is facing.”