Honda Motor Co.’s North America powersports sales — which include motorcycles, ATVs, and side-by-sides — had a strong year, ratcheting up nearly 30% to 330,000 units compared with 301,000 units in 2019, according to the OEM’s fiscal year 2020 financial results. Honda’s fiscal year ended March 31.
But globally, powersports sales came in at 19.3 million units, a 4.4% decrease. India, Honda’s largest market, experienced an 85.2% decrease in sales as “consumer demand remains sluggish,” the company noted.
As for auto sales, the Japanese automaker experienced a year-over-year decline in total units sold in North America, which fell 5.9% to 1.83 million units. Honda sales continued the downward trajectory in April, crashing 54%, the company reported earlier this month. Honda has already resumed production at its U.S. and Canada manufacturing plants, which opened May 11, after shuttering operations in late March.
Still, the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic were evident in the drop in operating profit for Honda’s global financial services business, which decreased 6.9% to $2.05 billion, due to an increase in provisions for credit losses, although Honda did not disclose how much was set aside for the COVID-19 impact.
American Honda Finance Co. North American automobile outstandings clocked in at $59.3 billion, a 7.4% YoY increase, according to Big Wheels Auto Finance Data. The automaker does not break out powersports outstandings.