Every automaker around the world was hit hard by the global pandemic. Honda was no exception and was forced to idle its production facilities here in the United States but managed to pay its employees during the shutdowns. The Japanese automaker faced other troubles in 2020, including a cyber-attack and supply chain issues at its UK plant. Despite all of these setbacks, Honda has managed to finish the year on a strong note, setting new records for the month of November.

Honda just released its summary of automobile production, Japan domestic sales, and export results for November 2020. The numbers show that Honda set new records for production in China and Asia as a whole, producing 64,843 vehicles in Japan (a 22.5% increase), 183,487 vehicles in China (a 20% increase), and 231,902 vehicles in Asia (a 15.9% increase).

This is the third month in a row that Honda experienced year-on-year production growth compared to 2019. Even production in the USA increased to 89,138 units (a 5.8% improvement) over 2019. Nearly all of the Honda models sold in the US are produced domestically, including the Accord, Civic, CR-V, Insight, Odyssey, Pilot, Passport, Ridgeline, and Acura models like the TLX, ILX, RDX, MDX, and NSX. In fact, Honda's Marysville Auto Plant in Ohio produced its 5.9 millionth car earlier this year, a 2020 Accord Hybrid.

Honda exported 6,994 vehicles out of Japan in November (an 11.1% increase). Only 145 of these exports came to the US, meaning Honda saw success from other models that we don't get here, like the 2021 Honda Fit, Honda e, and Honda N-Box. The new hybrid Fit (also known as the Jazz) was Japan's eighth best-selling car among new vehicle registrations, while the N-Box was the top-selling car in the mini-vehicle category with 15,685 units sold. Honda also had the ninth best-selling car in Japan, a small MPV called the Freed.