Honda Cars Philippines (HCPI) said it is cutting its car production by half due to a shortage in automotive parts coming from Honda Motor Co., Ltd. in Japan.

"Relative to the volatile situation in Japan and consequent reduction of parts supply from Honda Motor Co., Ltd., HCPI is temporarily reducing 50 percent of its production volume from April 2011," Honda Cars Phiilppines said in a statement issued on April 4.

Honda produces the City and the Civic at its Santa Rosa plant in Laguna. HCPI head for sales and communications Voltaire Gonzales refused to disclose the company's monthly output under normal circumstances but data from the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers in the Philippines showed that Honda sold a total of 11,789 units of the Civic and City in 2010.

"We believe that we can soon recover lost volume once parts supply resumes to normal level," Gonzales said in a separate interview.

Honda in Japan has already resumed production of automotive component parts following the stoppage since the double disaster hit the country on March 11. Honda said, however, that its current output is only approximately 50 percent of its original production.

This may also have affected production Thailand, where Honda Cars Philippines gets the Jazz, Accord and CR-V.

The car company assured the public, however, that Honda's teams in Asia and Oceania, and in other parts of the world, are "working diligently to overcome these temporary parts flow issues." Honda said it is seeking ways to minimize the impact of the parts issues on associates, dealers and customers.

Honda Cars Philippines, for its part, said it "will closely monitor the situation and strive to resume normal production operations the soonest."