HONDA SHIFTS SOME MOTORCYCLE PRODUCTION TO U.S.
Honda Motor Co Ltd <HMC.T> said it
shifted production of motorcycles with engine capacity of 700
cc and bigger for sale in the U.S. To its wholly owned
subsidiary <Honda Motor of America Inc> in Ohio, partly due to
the yen's appreciation against the dollar.
    A parent company spokesman said the Ohio plant, which makes
360,000 cars a year, is now also producing 1,100 cc and 1,200
cc motorcycles, partly for export.
    Motorcycle output in Ohio totalled 28,000 in 1986, down 33
pct from a year earlier, but the shift in production will raise
production to 44,000 in 1987, the spokesman said.
    The move to the U.S. Of large motorcycle manufacturing was
also due partly to higher U.S. Tariffs for imported motorcyles
bigger than 700 cc, industry sources said.
    The U.S. Imposed tariffs on imports of large motorcycles
from April 1983, starting at 49.9 pct and gradually falling, to
help the U.S. Motorcycle manufacturing industry to reconstruct,
the sources said. The tariff for U.S. Fiscal year 1987/88 is
set at 14.5 pct.
    They said the U.S. Planned to cut the tariff to 4.4 pct for
fiscal 1988/89, but that the higher level is likely to be kept
for a few years due to the slow pace of reconstruction.
 REUTER
