Redesigned CR-V crossover to launch on schedule, Honda tells dealers

The redesigned Honda CR-V will launch on time next month after flooding in Thailand threatened to delay the crossover’s release, Honda told dealers Tuesday.

The announcement suggests Honda’s supply chain, disrupted by flooding in Thailand, is recovering more quickly than the company initially anticipated. Earlier this month, Honda said the CR-V launch could be delayed by several weeks.

Such a delay would have been Honda’s second major launch to be derailed by a natural disaster this year. The Japanese earthquake and tsunami in March disrupted the release of the redesigned Civic earlier this summer.

The new Civic and CR-V are among four core products Honda is launching in the U.S. market during an 18-month period. An all-new Odyssey minivan went on sale a year ago, and a redesigned mid-sized Accord will be introduced in the spring.

Honda also said today that vehicle production would continue to be curtailed at plants in the United States through at least Nov. 23 and through Nov. 25 at its Canadian plants. But, after halving vehicle output in North America earlier this month, Honda said production will improve at some of its plants later this month.

In a memo sent to dealers Tuesday, John Mendel, American Honda executive vice president of sales, said production will improve to up to 75 percent of normal levels, depending on the plant, through Nov. 23.

“We have made significant progress in finding alternative manufacturing facilities or new suppliers for parts that are currently sourced from Thailand,” Mendel said in the memo.

In the memo, Mendel said Honda will also share marketing plans for the new CR-V at an upcoming dealer meeting in Las Vegas.

A Honda spokesperson wasn’t immediately available for comment.

Honda’s U.S. sales have suffered this year because of inventory shortages caused by the quake and tsumani.

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Frank Okemwa