May 12 (Bloomberg) -- Honda Motor Co. may build more autos than Chrysler LLC in North America this year and pass the bankrupt company in U.S. sales, further weakening Detroit’s grip on its home market.

Chrysler is idling most plants for as long as 60 days after having its lead in regional production chopped by 93 percent through April. Topping Chrysler in U.S. sales would leave Tokyo- based Honda trailing only General Motors Corp., Toyota Motor Corp. and Ford Motor Co.

“There’s a sea change under way,” said Michael Robinet, an analyst at forecaster CSM Worldwide in Northville, Michigan. “This crisis with Chrysler and GM has acted as an accelerant to the systemic change that was already occurring.”

Toyota, Japan’s biggest automaker, passed Chrysler in U.S. sales in 2006 and Ford in 2007, winning customers with more fuel-efficient models as gasoline prices rose. The U.S.-based automakers’ market share plunged to 44.4 percent through April, from more than 70 percent a decade ago, while sales have slumped to the lowest volume in about three decades.

Honda, Japan’s second-largest automaker, has been fifth in annual U.S. sales since 1988. Deliveries fell 32 percent through April to 332,014, leapfrogging Auburn Hills, Michigan-based Chrysler after its sales plunged 46 percent to 323,890. The U.S. market has decreased 37 percent.

Chrysler Plunge

“Market share isn’t something we target,” said David Iida, a spokesman for Honda’s U.S. unit, based in Torrance, California. “We’re very committed to local production, irrespective of what other companies are doing.”

The company’s American depositary receipts rose 24 cents to $29.54 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. They have gained 38 percent this year. Honda’s shares fell 1.4 percent to 2,860 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Industrywide North American car and light-truck production plunged 49 percent through April, with Chrysler leading declines among major manufacturers, according to Haig Stoddard, an IHS Global Insight analyst. Chrysler’s production in the period fell 57 percent to 322,773, based on company figures.

Honda built 305,762 autos at assembly plants in the U.S., Canada and Mexico through last month, down 40 percent from a year earlier. Honda narrowed the North American production gap to 17,011 vehicles from 236,645 a year earlier. The maker of Civic and Accord cars has U.S. plants in states including Ohio, Indiana and Alabama.

Chrysler, hoping to emerge from bankruptcy within 60 days as a new company led by Fiat SpA, halted work at most plants on May 4 while it reorganizes. The company also said it’s closing six factories that won’t be part of the Chrysler-Fiat deal.

Foreign Production Gains

“Honda and Toyota are both likely to outbuild Chrysler,” said John Sousanis, director of industry data for Ward’s Automotive Group. “We have each of them making 1 million vehicles or a bit more in North America this year, and Chrysler building just under 1 million -- and that’s before Chrysler announced its plan to shut down plants.”

Next year, Japanese, German and South Korean automakers probably will build more than half of the vehicles assembled in the U.S., outstripping local manufacturers for the first time, said CSM’s Robinet.

By 2011, Asian and European automakers will have more overall auto-assembly capacity in North America than U.S. competitors, said economist Kim Hill, with the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

“The market has matured,” said Hill. It “is moving away from the traditional Big 3 model to one that’s much more international.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Alan Ohnsman in Los Angeles aohnsman@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 12, 2009 16:19 EDT