Honda Australia CEO Satoshi Matsuzawa and Director Stephen Collins made the trip from their office in the Melbourne suburb of Tullamarine to Melbourne’s waterfront to welcome the first shipment of vehicles from Thailand since Honda’s Ayutthaya plant was virtually destroyed by floods last October.
That’s good news for Australian Honda buyers as 80 per-cent of the Japanese brand’s vehicles sold here come from Thailand. A seamless return to full production at the Ayutthaya faciliuty is vital for the company to achieve its goal of 40,000 Australian sales this year.
The first shipment included the latest Honda City models as wells as Jazz, Civic and CR-V.
To complete its local lineup Honda Australia also imports vehicles from Honda plants in Japan and the United Kingdom. All adhere to strict global manufacturing and quality standards.
While Japan production was slowed for some time last year following that country’s earthquake and tsunami however Honda was quick;ly back up to speed and Honda Australia was able to replace some Thai-built vehicles - the latest-generation Civic sedan and limited edition Jazz Vibe from Japanese plants.
However vehicles sourced from Ayutthaya, benefit from a competitive pricing structure resulting from Australia’s Free Trade Agreement with Thailand.
Australian launch of the all-new Honda Civic hatchback (made in Honda’s British plant in Swindon) is imminent and later this year the al-new CR-V mid-size SUV will arrive in local dealerships.
