Honda will make CR-Vs in Mexico
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Honda plans to build 50,000 CR-Vs in the plant in 2008.
The plant now produces about 30,000 Accord sedans annually for Mexico and Latin American countries. Accord production will end there so the plant can produce only CR-Vs in the fall.
"We are switching that plant entirely over to the CR-V," says David Iida, a Honda spokesman in Detroit. "This move is based on consumer demand for these small crossovers."
This marks the second plant in North America to build the CR-V. Honda added the vehicle to its East Liberty, Ohio, plant in September -- the first time it has been made in North America.
About 25,000 of the CR-Vs to be produced in Mexico will be sold there, while the other half will be made for the United States and Latin America, Iida says.
Honda of America Manufacturing Inc. has not given a target production figure for the CR-V in Ohio. But during its four-month ramp-up in East Liberty late last year, Honda built 7,111 CR-Vs. The company has built an additional 6,958 CR-Vs in East Liberty in the first two months of 2007.
Honda has spent $8 million to prepare the Mexico plant for CR-V production. Employment at the plant, now at 1,400, will increase to 2,000 when it reaches full production.
Production of Accords for Mexico and Latin America will shift to Honda's plant in Marysville, Ohio.
You may e-mail Ralph Kisiel at rkisiel@crain.com
