Until recently, honda Motor Co. seemed unstoppable. With its sporty Civic compact, stalwart Accord sedan, and a fleet of snazzy sport-utility vehicles and minivans, sales seemed to go nowhere but up. Profits soared, and Honda's U.S. market share rose to 9% last August from 6.7% in 2000. These days, though, Honda doesn't look so invincible. In April, once-hapless Nissan Motor Co. overtook Honda as Japan's second-largest car producer. And on Apr. 27 the company surprised investors by slashing this year's earnings forecasts by 7%, to $5.2 billion. Its profit for the quarter ended in March fell 36.5%, to $682 million. Even as Honda has started to recover from a sales slow- down in Japan, its U.S. market share has slipped to 8% in the first four months of the year, from 8.3% for the same period in 2003. While Honda's Tokyo-traded shares have risen 13% since last May, those of rival Toyota Motor Corp. have advanced 42%.
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机译：直到最近，本田汽车公司似乎还是势不可挡。凭借其运动型Civic紧凑型，坚固的Accord轿车以及一批时髦的运动型多功能车和小型货车，销量似乎无处可寻。利润猛增，本田在美国的市场份额从2000年的6.7％上升到了去年8月的9％。尽管如此，本田看上去并没有那么强大。 4月，不幸的日产汽车公司取代本田成为日本第二大汽车生产商。 4月27日，该公司将今年的盈利预期下调7％，至52亿美元，使投资者感到惊讶。截至3月底的季度利润下降36.5％，至6.82亿美元。即使本田已经开始从日本的销售放缓中恢复过来，但它在美国的市场份额从2003年同期的8.3％下降到了今年前四个月的8％。而本田在东京交易的股票自去年五月以来，该公司股价已上涨了13％，其竞争对手丰田汽车（Toyota Motor Corp.）的股价上涨了42％。
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