Honda sees some U.S. auto sales recovery by summer

DETROIT, April 23 (Reuters) - Honda Motor Co (7267.T) expects to see some recovery in U.S. auto sales by summer and expects its own inventory levels to normalize by June, the company's president and chief executive said on Thursday.

"I don't know the industry-wide sales trend in April, but by summertime we expect some recovery," Honda's Takeo Fukui told reporters on the sideline of an auto industry event sponsored by the automaker in Detroit.

Fukui said Honda's own U.S. sales were stable so far this month compared with the levels of recent months, broadly in line with industry-wide results.

Earlier, market-tracking service J.D. Power & Associates said its own data from dealerships showed April U.S. auto sales for the first 16 days of April were down about 33 percent from a year earlier but steady compared with February and March sales rates.

Fukui said Honda's efforts to slow production and reduce inventories were expected to bring the stock of unsold vehicles back down to near 60 days of sales by June.

"By June our inventories will reach normal levels," Fukui told reporters. (Reporting by Soyoung Kim; editing by Carol Bishopric)