[Toyota and Honda Both Saw Sharp Declines in China Sales, January-April] From January to April this year, Toyota's cumulative sales in China fell 10% YoY to 477,100 units; Honda's cumulative sales in China over the same period plunged 28% YoY to 145,065 units.

[Honda's April Sales in China Fell 48% YoY] Amid intensifying competition from Chinese domestic automakers and rising fuel prices dampening consumers' car purchase willingness, Honda's auto sales in China saw a sharp decline in April. Honda announced that its April new car sales in China were 22,595 units, down 48% YoY, with flagship car models such as the Accord seeing stagnant sales. GAC Honda, a joint venture between Honda and GAC Group, saw April sales plunge 64% YoY to 8,384 units; Dongfeng Honda, a joint venture with Dongfeng Group, saw sales decline 31% YoY to 14,211 units.

Benefiting from the backdrop of tech companies investing heavily in artificial intelligence computing, the adoption of Arm (ARM.O) chip technology continued to rise. The company on Wednesday forecast its first fiscal quarter revenue at $1.26 billion, above market expectations of $1.25 billion. Arm CEO Rene Haas said, "We are very bullish on data center demand," adding that there was "pretty significant growth in data center-related royalties" during the quarter. Earlier this year, Arm launched the AGI CPU, a data center chip designed to handle the large-scale data processing required for specific types of AI. The company said on Wednesday that it had secured $2 billion in client demand for the processor for fiscal years 2027 and 2028.

[SMM Tin Morning Brief: The Most-Traded SHFE Tin Contract Continued Its Daytime Rise During the Night Session, Spot Market Trading Stalled]

According to Japanese media reports on the 6th, Honda is in discussions with the Canadian government to scrap its planned electric vehicle, battery and cathode material plant in Ontario. First announced in April 2024, the 15-billion-Canadian-dollar project was Honda’s largest-ever investment, targeting annual output of 240,000 EVs. Due to external policy shifts, Honda delayed production from 2028 to 2030+ last May and began re-evaluating the plan. The firm has now decided to terminate the project, citing the end of U.S. EV tax credits and delayed U.S.-Canada trade talks. The move is part of its global business restructuring. Since last November, Honda has adopted an emergency management regime to ease financial strain from heavy EV investments and weak EV demand.

[Honda Suspends C$11 Billion EV Factory Project in Canada] Affected by weak EV demand in the US, Honda Motor plans to shelve its plan to build an EV factory in Canada and make hybrid car models the core of its North American strategy. Honda originally planned to invest a total of C$15 billion (approximately $11 billion) in the Canadian EV factory and battery plant. Last May, it decided to delay the project by two years. Given that market conditions are unlikely to improve in the short term, Honda has now decided to suspend the project indefinitely.

According to the State Administration for Market Regulation, Honda Motorcycle Sales (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. recently filed a recall plan with the State Administration for Market Regulation. Recall number E2026M0046V: Starting from May 25, 2026, a total of 37 units of imported 2025 model CB1000R motorcycles produced between April 16, 2025 and July 4, 2025 will be recalled.

[Honda Plans to Terminate Auto Sales Business in South Korea by the End of 2026] Honda Motor Company announced that it would terminate new vehicle sales in South Korea by the end of 2026, ending its 23-year presence in the South Korean passenger car market. Lee Ji-hong, Honda's regional CEO for South Korea, stated that the withdrawal was the result of multiple factors, including changes in the market environment, exchange rate pressures, and the company's need to concentrate resources on priority development areas. Despite the termination of new vehicle sales, Honda pledged to continue providing after-sales services, parts supply, and warranty support for at least eight years. Notably, Honda will retain its motorcycle business in South Korea.

Honda Korea said Thursday it will end its automobile sales business in South Korea after 23 years and shift its focus to motorcycles. The company announced at a press conference that it will stop selling cars by the end of this year as part of efforts to optimize its business structure.

[Honda China's March Sales Fell 34%] On April 8, Honda China released its latest sales data: March end-user sales were 36,201 units, down 34.34% YoY; cumulative Q1 sales reached 122,470 units, down 22.4% YoY. Meanwhile, Honda's cumulative end-user sales in China surpassed 20 million units.