TOKYO (AP) — Honda’s profit for the fiscal year through March slipped 24.5% from the previous year, as its vehicle sales in China dropped, and the Japanese automaker warned Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s tariffs will worsen its earnings.
Tokyo-based Honda Motor Co., which dropped talks to integrate its business with Japanese rival Nissan Motor Corp. earlier this year, said its annual profit totaled 835.8 billion yen ($5.6 billion), down from 1.1 trillion yen in the previous fiscal year.
Annual sales edged up 6.2% to nearly 21.69 trillion yen ($147 billion).
Research and development costs hurt, despite Honda’s record global motorcycle sales for the fiscal year, which topped 21 million motorcycles.
Hybrid vehicle sales also did well, especially in the U.S., and Honda's profitability per vehicle was also improving, according to the maker of the Accord sedan and CR-V sports-utility vehicle.
Executive Vice President Noriya Kaihara acknowledged that Trump’s tariffs were likely to hurt, erasing 650 billion yen ($4.4 billion) from its operating profit for the fiscal year through March 2026. That's mainly because of U.S. tariffs on vehicles from Canada and Mexico. Honda’s vehicle shipments from Japan to the U.S. are negligible.
Officials stressed major uncertainties remain, but said they felt it was important to give a realistic projection, no matter how pessimistic it might be.
Chief Executive Toshihiro Mibe said Honda will do its best to minimize the impact from tariffs. In the long term, Honda will transfer auto production to U.S. plants and rethink its investment plans. All decisions will be made “very carefully,” Mibe told reporters.
He also said Honda was sticking to its plans to produce more electric vehicles.
Various automakers have said they are baffled by Trump's opposition to EVs and his tariffs, and some companies are trimming back their ambitious electrification plans.
Honda is projecting a 70% nose-dive in profit for the fiscal year through March 2026, at 250 billion yen ($1.7 billion), on 20.3 trillion yen ($137 billion) in sales, down 6%.
Honda and Nissan announced in December they were going to hold talks to set up a joint holding company. Mitsubishi Motors Corp., another Japanese automaker, had said it was considering joining that group. But the plans quickly unraveled, with Nissan saying it wanted out because it would be at a disadvantage.
Nissan, which has slipped into red ink lately, reports financial results later Tuesday.
Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama
FILE - A woman wearing a protective mask to help curb the spread of the coronavirus works near the logo of Honda Motor Company at a showroom on May 13, 2021, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A shooting outside a church building in Salt Lake City killed two people and injured six others Wednesday, police said.
The shooting took place in the parking lot of a meetinghouse of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, widely known as the Mormon church.
Dozens of people were attending a funeral inside at the time. All the victims were adults.
Police said they do not believe the shooter had any animus toward a particular faith.
“We don’t believe this was a targeted attack against a religion or anything like that,” Salt Lake City Police Chief Brian Redd said.
Police also do not believe the shooting was random. Authorities said no suspect was in custody.
About 100 law enforcement vehicles were at the scene in the aftermath, and helicopters flew overhead.
“This should never have happened outside a place of worship. This should never have happened outside a celebration of life,” Mayor Erin Mendenhall said.
The church was cooperating with law enforcement and was grateful for efforts first responders' efforts, a spokesperson said.
“We extend prayers for all who have been impacted by this tragedy and express deep concern that any sacred space intended for worship should be subjected to violence of any kind,” Sam Penrod said in a statement.
The church is headquartered in Salt Lake City, and about half of Utah’s 3.5 million residents are members of the faith. Churches like the one where the shooting occurred can be found in towns throughout the city and state.
The faith has been on heightened alert since four people were killed when a former Marine opened fire in a Michigan church last month and set it ablaze. The FBI found that he was motivated by “anti-religious beliefs” against the church.
Police respond to a fatal shooting in a parking lot of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Hannah Schoenbaum)
Police respond to a fatal shooting in a parking lot of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Hannah Schoenbaum)
Police respond to a fatal shooting in a parking lot of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (Laura Seitz/The Deseret News via AP)
People hug each other after a fatal shooting in a parking lot of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (Laura Seitz/The Deseret News via AP)
Funeral attendees leave a meetinghouse of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after a fatal shooting in the parking lot in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (Laura Seitz/The Deseret News via AP)
Police respond to a fatal shooting in a parking lot of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (Rio Giancarlo/The Deseret News via AP)
