Japanese carmaker Honda hit by cyberattack

LONDON (AP) — Japanese carmaker Honda said Tuesday that it has been hit by a cyberattack that disrupted its business, though it expects the overall impact to be contained.

The company said in a statement that it could “confirm that a cyber attack has taken place on the Honda network.''

It said there was no breach of data, but that it is working to “minimize the impact and to restore full functionality of production, sales and development activities.''

“At this point, we see minimal business impact,'' the company said.

Like other carmakers, Honda has struggled to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and the efforts to return to production. It reported deep losses for the fiscal quarter that ended in March, as the damage to the industry from the outbreak hurt sales and crimped production.

The attack also comes as automakers face pressure to invest large amounts of money in new technologies such as electric and autonomous cars to meet air pollution limits in Europe and China and fend off competition from tech companies.