Honda resume full production at earthquake damaged factory

Honda has resumed full production of motorcycles at the Kumamoto plant that was wrecked by two major earthquakes that hit Japan back in April.

Severe damage occurred to both the buildings and equipment in some areas of the factory following the major earthquakes that devastated the region on April 14, leaving Honda with no choice but to initially close the factory with production of motorcycles partially resuming on June 6.

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Kumamoto is one of the main manufacturing plants for Honda’s large capacity and off-road motorcycles. With production of the CRF1000L Africa Twin, Goldwing, Fireblade, NC750, VFR1200F and others halted for a period after the factory was forced to close.

The earthquake that caused the majority of the damage struck in the middle of the night on April 14, with a magnitude of 7.3. It followed a previous earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4 just a few days before. Both happened close to the surface and caused massive amounts of damage to the Kumamoto region.

With debris removed and some repairs done, production resumed in June on a small scale and has gradually increased since until the production at the factory was “virtually normalised” as of August 22.

Honda is continuing “to wish for the earliest possible recovery of the affected area and make the utmost effort to deliver products to customers in a timely manner.”

 

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