Honda Motor Corporation will join the race of the world’s biggest car manufacturing companies which are planning to create strong hybrid cars. These hybrid cars will serve as alternatives to cars which use a depleting fuel source and are contributory to global warming and therefore its harmful effects. Honda has already planned to develop a strong hybrid car which will be released in the market by 2012, much like it’s competitors.

This hybrid car is a plug-in hybrid and battery electric model car which is a stronger version of its mild hybrid car. The former mild hybrid cars which were developed a decade ago, are gasoline-electric cars which were not successful in the market at all.

In fact, other companies such as Volkswagen AG and Hyundai Motor Corp are aiming at these old Honda models and showing that their cars are more efficient and are stronger as hybrid cars. According to Takanobu Ito, the chief executive of Honda, the company plans to sell battery-powered electric model cars and plug-in hybrid vehicles by 2012.

These cars will be initially sold in the United States and Japan. On the other hand, Honda’s rival, Toyota, will release a plug-in hybrid car next year. This shows that the technology level of Toyota is way better than Honda.

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Post tags: Honda, hybrid cars, success, toyota, united states

Strikes continue to plague the Honda plants in China. This is already the second time in less than one month that strikes caused the plants to stop production. Tomorrow, two China factories will have to stop their car assembly production. These plants, which are located in Guangzhou in the province of Guangdong, will close because their employees are asking for higher pay.

This is according to Natsuno Asanuma, spokeswoman for Honda Tokyo. Also, according to another spokeswoman based in Beijing named Gao Xia, a strike permitted another supplier to halt their production, and this is still in Guangdong. Specifically, the company’s name is Foshan Fengfu Autoparts Corporation, located in Foshan, Guangdong. They started their strike in June 7, and this happened seven days after a parts maker, which also supplies Honda car parts, was given 24 percent increase in salary.

There really is a lot of pressure from the southern part of China to increase wages, and this was all started by the initial strike from the Honda plant. It is highly likely that other workers from other automaker plants will ask for higher salary as well. Despite the continuing strike, Honda stated that they still have partial operation, but this statement was not elaborated further.

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Post tags: assembly production, beijing, China, guangdong, guangzhou, Honda, honda plant, increase in salary

Despite the fact that several workers are still unsure that they want to continue to work full time starting next week, Honda Motor Company has announced that it will resume car production on Friday.

Car production was momentarily halted because of protests from around 1,900 workers who want better pay and better conditions. They protested and would not work until these are met, and that meant the number 2 car producing company in Japan suffered a devastating suspension in production.

The Honda parts factory actually resumed their work last Wednesday, June 2, 2010, but not everyone decided to do so, as they still waited for some of the demands to be met, while they proclaimed that they will resume working by Friday.

One worker, Li, who only shared his last name, expressed the sentiment of the parts factory workers, by saying that it is certainly possible that another strike may happen again if the answers are still unsatisfying. On the other hand, Honda announced that several factories will fully resume work by Friday, including the Guangqi Honda, a joint venture to Guangzhou Auto Group. Two other factories are expected to resume work; one of them is the Dongfeng Honda and a factory that only produces exports.

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Post tags: car production, dongfeng, factories, Guangzhou Auto Group, Honda, honda motor company, honda parts, joint venture

A trend is brewing in Chinese society. Workers are now demanding higher wages at a Honda plant. China’s economy is relentlessly moving in favor of their workers. The economy’s growth has favored business owners but it is slowly moving in a new direction. Labor shortages are seen to increase and the law of supply and demand will adjust in the worker’s favor.

This is a good trend especially for China’s export industry. The transition is not that easy though and if various companies’ management aren’t careful, they will most likely face the same problem as Honda.

In a country of over a billion people, labor supply should be far from running out. This is not what is happening though. The very reason for this shortage is China’s one-child policy. Studies have shown that the population of young people, ages 20 to 39, has drastically fallen by 22%.

Another thing aggravating the job market is that the economic program of Beijing has drawn labor away from the east coast. The cost of housing in that region also discourages people from working in that area. With these factors, wages would need to be very high to attract laborers.

Economists think the entire scenario is a good thing as well. Once families get higher incomes, they could spend more and in turn help out the economy thru paying more taxes. The economy really needs this boost to lessen the need to depend on exports. This, in turn, can help them keep their products for their own consumption.

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Post tags: China, export industry, higher wages, Honda, job market