Honda’s reportedly trying to move production of their 400ccs and larger displacement bikes to Thailand all the way from Japan to cut down production costs and get over yen’s rising value.
According to Yomiuri, a Japanese newspaper, Honda is planning to produce the 400 and 500cc bikes at their brand new factory getting built in Bangkok’s suburbs, Thailand. At the moment, Honda is currently producing smaller displacement bikes like CBR250R in Thai while the larger displacement bikes are coming from Honda’s Kumamoto factory in Japan.
Lower production costs made Honda to give CBR250R at competitive prices to North American market when compared to bikes like Ninja 250R of Kawasaki. If at all Honda did produce CBR250R at home in Japan and had opted out of Thailand, then entry-level models would have likely carried higher prices, and wouldn’t have been a feasible option for North American markets.
While shifting bike production to Bangkok, Thailand has the benefits, there also are some risks. Thailand on the whole has been under heavy rainfall and floods since summer and damage caused by floods has partly halted bike production in the month of November. The automobile production of Honda in Thailand drastically got hit with all production plans suspended until Oct 4, 2011.