Honda Had to Close A Motorcycle Plant After An Earthquake, But It's Back Doing What It Does Best

Natural disasters have been striking left, right, and center lately, with wildfires scorching Europe and North America, storms battering the American West and Pacific, droughts being suffered throughout the world, and a handful of earthquakes shaking the ground under South America and Japan. The latter of which recently causing Honda to stop motorcycle production at its Kumamoto plant. 

The complex, which is located in Kikuchi-gun, Kumamoto, Japan, is the brand's largest motorcycle production facility, which produces a literal metric ton of the brand's two wheeled offerings, including the Gold Wing, CRF1000L Africa Twin, CB1100, CBR1000RR, Rebel 500, CBR250RR, Giorno and Tact scooters, as well as the Super Cub series. Basically, half of Honda's offerings come out of Kumamoto at present. But that hasn't been the case since July when a 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck the region, killing 39 people in the area and causing the production facility to shut down. 

Now, however, Honda is saying that production will resume, and that workers will return after "construction" efforts have ended. 

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Our friends over at Visordown reported on the resumption, quoting a Honda spokesperson who said, "Now that the factory is nearing completion, Honda will resume finished vehicle production from Monday, the 24th. Going forward, we will continue to prioritize the safety of our employees and work in cooperation with all relevant parties to ensure a stable supply of our products."

It's unclear how damaged the plant was after the 6.8 earthquake, but according to reporting in the beginning of August, Honda was forced to close three plants in the region due to damage, with NHK World Japan reporting, "Honda Motor says it's suspending production at three vehicle plants in Japan. This comes after last week's powerful quake damaged a supplier's factory in Kumamoto Prefecture. Honda said on Wednesday a plant operated by group parts maker Astemo suffered major damage in the jolt. This has affected parts procurement."

The outlet added, "Astemo says it expects to resume some operations at the factory from Friday, but has no clear prospect for coming fully back on line. The automaker says one assembly plant in Saitama Prefecture and two in Mie Prefecture will halt operations until August 19. This includes a scheduled summer break."

So there was a little break for summer, but also part to repair the damaged production facility. Those efforts, however, are now complete, and motorcycle manufacturing can get back on schedule.