Honda to cut another 18,000 units of U.S. production

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Honda will cut another 18,000 units from its planned production in the United States in response to the downturn in industrywide auto sales, the company said on Thursday.

The latest production cuts mean Honda will have cut 50,000 vehicles from its planned U.S. production since August when its sales began to fall in the world's largest vehicle market.

The move by Honda follows similar steps by Japanese automakers Toyota and Nissan, which have been hit by the sharp drop in U.S. auto sales since the summer.

Honda now expects to build 1.41 million cars and trucks in North America in the fiscal year that ends next March, down from 1.43 million a year earlier.

Honda's U.S. sales fell almost 4 percent through October, compared with a nearly 12 percent decline for Toyota and a 7 percent drop for Nissan.

The sales slump has hit U.S. automakers harder, forcing General Motors, Ford and Chrysler to slash production and plead for a $25 billion (16 billion pound) federal bailout intended to give them the cash needed to survive the downturn.

Honda's latest production cuts are aimed mostly at reducing light-truck production at its Lincoln, Alabama, plant. That plant will cut output of vehicles like the Odyssey minivan and Pilot SUV by 12,000 units.

Honda's flexible manufacturing plants in Liberty and Marysville, Ohio will cut production by another 6,000 units.

The automaker did not detail production cuts by model. Honda's Ohio plants make a range of vehicles including the CR-V crossover and Acura RDX SUVs.