Last year, 34 percent of all Honda vehicles sold around the globe were produced in Japan, but that number could change drastically over the next decade. Reuters reports that Honda CEO Takanobu Ito told Japan's Asahi newspaper that the automaker will drop its exports to 10-20 percent over the next 10 years.

The reason for the switch has everything to do with the ill effects of currency swings. To prevent this from continuing to hurt Honda's bottom line, executives reportedly plan to make 80-90 percent of its vehicles in the main markets where they are sold. But just because Honda plans to export fewer vehicles from Japan doesn't mean that the automaker will board up some of its home plants. Instead, Honda plans to keep production at about one million units, in part by bumping production of its popular 660cc kei cars.

Honda's decision to build more vehicles in-market comes as the yen hit a 10-year high against the euro. In fact, Reuters points out that the dollar is now worth only 77 yen, which is down from 85 yen in April.Honda to cut Japanese production in half over next decade originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 06 Oct 2011 10:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.


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