Honda fails to match small car demands

CARMAKER Honda has revealed that production of its fuel-efficient models will fall short of demand as more customers move away from bigger-engined vehicles amid soaring fuel prices.

The firm said it would struggle to meet demand until at least March 2009 as fuel prices force customers to seek out more-efficient cars.

Sinking sales of sports cars and big vehicles have hit the industry hard, and Japan's No2 car manufacturer is scrambling to substitute output of such gas-guzzling vehicles with more sought-after models, such as the Civic.

Honda has already mapped out some measures to ease the imbalance in North America, its biggest market. This includes plans to transfer production in Ontario of the Ridgeline pick-up truck to an underused factory in Alabama, to make more room for Civic production in Canada by the end of the year.

But chief financial officer Yoichi Hojo said yesterday that the adjustments were incremental and not enough to fully address the problem in the short term.

"We don't have enough Accords, Civics and Fits (Jazz] in the United States," he said.