Honda, Mazda May Seek Aid From Japan

Japanese carmakers Honda and Mazda may seek to borrow money from the Japanese government as sales plunged in February.

Author:: Joseph Woelfel
Publish date:: Mar 4, 2009 1:43 AM EST

Japanese carmakers Honda and Mazda may seek to borrow money from the Japanese government as sales plunged in February.

Honda

(HMC) - Get Report

, which saw its U.S. auto sales in February fall 38%, may ask to borrow money from Japan's government, and

Mazda

may do the same, a report says.

The amount of the loans and timing of the request to the state-owned Japan Bank for International Cooperation haven't yet been determined, Honda spokeswoman Akemi Ando said, according to

Bloomberg

. Mazda also is considering a request for government loans, a Mazda spokesman said.

On Tuesday, it was reported that

Toyota

(TM) - Get Report

, the leader in global auto sales, was seeking aid from the Japanese government for its finance arm. Toyota's sales in the U.S. in February fell 40%.

Overall auto sales in the U.S. were down 41% from February 2008, but up 5% from January, according to Autodata Corp. and Ward's AutoInfoBank. January marked the industry's worst monthly performance since December 1981.

Sales at

General Motors

(GM) - Get Report

, the biggest U.S. automaker, fell 53%.

Honda may request at least 10 billion yen ($101.5 million) from the Japanese government,

Bloomberg

reports, citing a report in the

Nikkei

newspaper.

Japan's Mazda, which is partially owned by

Ford

(F) - Get Report

, increasingly needs the funds, mainly in the U.S. and Europe, the company spokesman said. No details have been decided regarding a request for government funding, he said, according to

Bloomberg

Mazda's U.S. sales fell 30% in February.