TOKYO (Thomson Financial) - Japan's second-largest automaker by sales Honda Motor Co and third-ranked Nissan Motor Co are tweaking their output in North America because of lackluster demand due to factors such as rising gasoline prices, the Nikkei reported at the weekend without citing sources.
Early next year, Honda will stop making its Ridgeline pickup truck at its Ontario plant in Canada and will ramp up production of its popular fuel-efficient Civic subcompact, the business daily said.
Ridgeline production will be shifted to the US state of Alabama, where the car maker produces larger models like the Odyssey minivan and the Pilot sport utility vehicle.
Ridgeline sales fell 16 percent to 42,000 units in the US last year, the report said.
Honda hopes to improve efficiency at its plants by concentrating output of larger vehicles in Alabama.
Nissan has already cut output at two US plants, with the average operating rate at the facilities at around 75 percent, the Nikkei said.
It plans to ramp up exports from those plants to the Middle East, while increasing sales of subcompacts imported from Japan and Mexico.
(1 US dollar = 99.09 yen)
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