Honda joins Toyota, Detroit 3 in production cuts stemming from bridge blockade

Honda Motor Co. said it will suspend output from one production line on Friday at its plant in Alliston, Ontario, joining Toyota Motor Corp. and the Detroit 3 automakers in announcing various production losses stemming from the weeklong bridge blockade by protesters at the U.S.-Canada border.

The Japanese automaker said late Thursday that the temporary halt comes as it monitors “the disruption of transportation between Canada and the U.S.”

Honda described the situation as “fluid” but that it has no plans to curtail output at any of its U.S. auto plants. The company builds its Civic compact sedan and CR-V compact crossover at its plant in Alliston, Ontario. Honda earlier confirmed the plant also temporarily suspended manufacturing on Wednesday evening due to border delays.

On Thursday, Toyota, General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler-parent Stellantis said they had been forced to cancel or scale back some production at North American plants because of parts shortages stemming from Canadian trucker protests against pandemic mandates.

The truckers, who oppose a vaccinate-or-quarantine requirement for cross-border drivers, have used their big rigs to snarl traffic at the Ambassador Bridge linking Detroit and Windsor — which accounts for about 25 percent of U.S.-Canadian trade.

A Toyota spokesman told Reuters the automaker was suspending production through Saturday at plants on both sides of the border, in Ontario and Kentucky. The largest Japanese automaker said it was “experiencing multiple dropped logistics routes” and it is “not isolated to only one or two parts at this point.”

The shortages affected Toyota’s production of the RAV4 — the best-selling non-truck vehicle in the U.S., Camry, Avalon, Lexus RX and Lexus ES, the automaker said.

Ford said it was running its plants in Windsor and Oakville, another Canadian city, at reduced capacity. It added that it hoped for a quick resolution “because it could have widespread impact on all automakers in the U.S. and Canada.”

Stellantis said some U.S. and Canadian plants cut short shifts on Thursday after many shortened shifts Wednesday night “due to parts shortages caused by the closure of the Detroit/Windsor bridge.”

GM said it was forced to halt production Thursday at a Michigan plant where it builds crossovers after the protests. The automaker said it had canceled a shift on Wednesday and two shifts Thursday at its Lansing Delta Township plant.

Shilpan Amin, GM’s vice president for global purchasing and supply chain, told suppliers on Thursday in a message seen by Reuters that “although we may have intermittent stoppages, we intend to keep production running and meet current schedules at all of our manufacturing operations in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.”

The company added it was “encouraging suppliers to evaluate alternative options in order to sustain your operations to meet our production schedules.”