KARACHI, Dec 28: The production of Honda Civic and Honda City cars has been suspended for at least two months due to disruption in supply of some parts from Thailand.

The recent floods in Thailand has caused shortages thus resulting in the closure of the Honda plant in Lahore from early December 2011 and till end of January 2012, a senior official from Honda Atlas Cars Pakistan Limited (HACPL) confirmed to Dawn on Wednesday.

The company has been facing some parts shortage since early October when floods in Thailand had submerged Honda Plant at Rojana Industrial Park in Ayutthaya, about 80 km north of Bangkok, which used to provide completely knocked down (CKD) kits to worldwide Honda cars assembling plants.

In Pakistan, the production and sales of Civic stood at 2,646 and 2,615 units in July-November 2011 as compared to 2,782 and 2,577 units in the same period of last year. Production and sale of Honda City surged to 4,032 and 4,175 units in July-November 2011 as compared to 3,844 and 3,670 units in the same period of 2010.

While keeping the Lahore production plant off for at least two months, the official said HACPL has neither fired any workers or staffers nor does it have any plan in the future. Direct employment at the plant stands at around 1,000 persons in which 85 per cent are permanent employees.

The company has also informed the customers about the problems of parts shortage. Car dealers said customers who have booked cars and the intending customers whose deliveries will be delayed till February 2012, the company will issue vouchers as a token of gratitude of Rs20,000 to City buyers and Rs25,000 to Civic buyers. In addition as per the government rules and regulations, markup will also be paid in case there is a delay by more than 60 days.

The dealers said the delay to deliver in February 2012 will automatically favour their competitors and used car importers. Honda Atlas is attracting customers to book car of their choice and avail the advantage of this unique situation as it has so far not increased prices like its competitors did.

Indus Motor Company Limited (IMC), the maker of Toyota and Daihatsu vehicles, has increased the prices owing to costlier imports of parts and accessories on account of losing strength of the rupee against the dollar.

Normally, the dealers said December tends to be a slower month for all manufacturers and this aspect favours Honda as the preference to buy the next year’s model is an advantage and worth waiting.