The amount of the loans and timing of the request to the state-owned Japan Bank for International Cooperation haven’t yet been determined, spokeswoman Akemi Ando said by phone today. Mazda Motor Corp. is also considering a request for government loans, spokesman Toyota Tanaka said today.
Honda and Mazda would follow Toyota Motor Corp., Japan’s biggest carmaker, in seeking loans from the government as the global recession hammers auto demand. U.S. auto sales in February slid to the lowest rate since December 1981, led by a 53 percent plunge for General Motors Corp.
“Things look pretty grim at present,” said Edwin Merner, president of Atlantis Investment Research Corp. in Tokyo, which manages $3.1 billion. “By the end of the year, the year-on-year figures should start improving unless the world economy gets much worse.”
Among Honda’s models, only its Fit small car and Acura TSX sport sedan, posted U.S. sales gains last month. The company may request at least 10 billion yen ($102 million) from the government, the Nikkei newspaper said today, without citing sources.
Mazda
Mazda, the Japanese carmaker partially owned by Ford Motor Co., increasingly needs the funds, mainly in the U.S. and Europe, Tanaka said in a phone interview. No details have been decided regarding a request for government funding, he said.
The carmaker’s U.S. sales slid 30 percent in February to 16,401 vehicles.
Japan will use some of its foreign-exchange reserves to lend to the state-owned bank that gives financing to Japanese companies operating abroad, Japanese Finance Minister Kaor Yosano said yesterday. The ministry may lend about $5 billion to the bank this month, he said.
Honda has 986 billion yen in bonds coming due this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Toyota’s financial unit may ask for 200 billion yen in loans, public broadcaster NHK reported yesterday, without citing anyone.
Honda fell 3.9 percent to 2,195 yen at 1:44 p.m. in Tokyo Stock Exchange trading. Mazda rose 4.2 percent to 123 yen.
To contact the reporter on this story: Makiko Kitamura