By Chris Haak

12.17.2008

Honda President Takeo Fukui has undertaken several dramatic actions today as Honda begins to feel the effects of the global recession and the terrible new car market.  Fukui has cut operating profit forecasts again, saying they will fall 81.1% – less than two months after saying they will fall 67.3%.  Further, in a move to be mourned by gearheads everywhere, Fukui canceled the NSX supercar program, which was tantalizingly close to being production ready, having already run several hot laps around the Nurburgring Nordschleife.

The news conference at which Honda made these and other announcements was hastily moved up two days ahead of its originally scheduled time because of the urgency of the situation.  Part of Honda’s problem is that the value of the yen has climbed 18% against the US dollar since August – hurting margins on exports from Japan to the US that Honda depends on – while sales in the US also collapsed outright. Continue Reading →