Parts shortage to delay Honda orders

Honda Motor Co. has asked its U.S. dealers to postpone orders for Honda and Acura models built in Japan after extending a halt in domestic vehicle production until at least Wednesday.

After checking on its 110 suppliers in the northeastern Japanese region hit hardest by last week's massive earthquake, Honda said around a third of those parts manufacturers would not be able to resume operations for more than a week.

Honda's assessment was among the first outlining the scope of the damage resulting from the 9.0-magnitude quake and subsequent tsunami.

Most auto production in Japan has been halted for the past week, leading to a scramble among some U.S. car shoppers for models produced only in Japan, notably hybrid cars such as Toyota Motor Corp.'s Prius and the Honda Insight.

Toyota Motor Corp. told its U.S. dealers that its production stoppages would result in a reduction of 17,400 vehicles for the U.S. market but said it expected to make up the shortfall in April.

"Toyota is still assessing the supplier network and will make a decision on resuming Japan production next week," the automaker said in a note to dealers.