Thanks to the worsening auto industry crisis and the continued downturn in sales, Honda Motor Corp has announced a rather drastic shift in their production schedule. Beginning next month, Honda will launch a 13-day shutdown of six plants throughout North American (spanning across Canada, the U.S., and Mexico), hopefully reducing output by an estimated 62,000 vehicles. In addition, Honda also announced it planned to introduce a series of pay cuts for white collar workers and launch a round of buyouts/early retirement plans at hourly employees. Although Honda wouldn’t comment on exactly how many employees would be effected, the company concentrates their largest market presence within North America, which leads us to assume workers on U.S. soil will be among those the hardest hit. (hat tip, Dustin)

Honda, which ranks behind Toyota as Japan’s second biggest automaker, is the only one of the Japan 3 who has yet to announce an expectation of any significant profit loss for the fiscal year. Honda has already taken many preemptive actions in an attempt to stave of financial crisis, including the shocking decision to withdraw participation from the Formula One circuit during the 2009 season.

Source: Financial Times
Image Cred: Getty Images