Honda CEO welcomes US government auto loan

Honda’s chief executive welcomed the U.S. government decision to extend loans to American automakers Thursday, but said their problems highlighted their slow response to soaring gas prices.

“It is totally proper for the U.S. government to help out U.S. automakers,” Takeo Fukui told reporters in Tokyo, adding that Honda also relies on the same parts makers in the United States.

Last month, President George Bush signed a sprawling, stopgap spending bill, including a US$25 billion in taxpayer-subsidized loans to the troubled U.S. automakers.

General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler had lobbied for the government loans, which will help them develop a broader lineup of fuel-efficient models.

Honda Motor Co., whose models are reputed for good mileage, has avoided some of the major sales battering that U.S. rivals have taken as gasoline prices soared.

“The times have changed,” Fukui said. “Their response was too slow.”

Fukui said Honda benefited by refraining from expanding into the once lucrative pickup truck sector.

“We didn’t dabble in that, and that worked out well for us,” he said at a Tokyo hotel.

Fukui said Honda sales were holding up despite the gloomy outlook for the industry, and he foresaw no major revisions to fiscal year sales forecasts.

Tokyo-based Honda has been nimble in adjusting production, including at its Alabama plant, to boost output of in-demand models, like the Accord, to keep inventory low and respond to changes in consumer tastes.

While Honda is seeing sales fall in some markets, they are gaining or holding up in others including China and India, Fukui said.

Honda had posted on-year vehicle sales growth through August in the U.S. but reported a 24 percent drop last month as overall U.S. sales dropped below 1 million vehicles for the first time in more than 15 years.

But Fukui was upbeat, promising solid sales with Honda’s gas-electric hybrid Insight, planned for the Japanese, European and North American markets early next year.

Fukui was speaking at the unveiling of the remodeled Odyssey minivan in Tokyo. Honda raised the pricing as usual on the model, and plans to sell 4,000 Odyssey minivans in Japan a month.

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