Honda plans $200 million investment in Ohio units
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Honda Motor Co. said it will spend $200 million on its engine and transmission factories in Ohio and hire 200 workers there.
The announcement was timed to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the start of car production in Ohio by Honda.
The expansion of Honda's engine plant in Anna and a transmission factory in Russells Point is part of Honda's $1.2 billion in spending on U.S. plants announced during the past two years, bringing the company's cumulative investment in U.S. auto manufacturing to $12.5 billion.
North America, which accounted for 44 percent of Honda's revenue last fiscal year, is taking on a larger role for the company. Honda's eighth auto plant in the region is being built in Mexico. The plant will expand Honda's North American capacity to 1.92 million units when it opens in 2014, from 1.63 million now.
Other recent investments in North America include:
• $800 million for an assembly plant in Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico, with an annual capacity of 200,000 units, for the production of subcompact vehicles. The plant will employ 3,200 people at full capacity and is schedule to begin Honda Fit production in 2014.
• $400 million and 190 new jobs at its Lincoln, Ala., auto and engine plant to increase production by 40,000 vehicles per year, to 340,000, and to add Acura MDX production early in 2013. MDX production is moving to Alabama from Honda of Canada Mfg. Plant 2 in Alliston, Ontario.
• $299 million and 200 new jobs at the Anna Engine Plant to expand production of powertains and components, including production of pulleys for continuously variable transmissions, and a new 320,000-square-foot parts consolidation center.
• $175 million and 100 new jobs at the Russells Point transmission plant to increase high-pressure die casting operations and to add a third line for production of CVTs for the 2013 Accord.
• $166 million at the East Liberty, Ohio, assembly plant for a 195,000-square-foot expansion, including new door and instrument panel assembly lines, an extended final assembly line and a new vehicle-quality department.
• $64 million at the Marysville, Ohio, plant for a 24,000-square-foot expansion and new metal stamping capabilities.
• $40 million and nearly 300 new jobs at the Greensburg, Ind., assembly plant to increase production by 50,000 units per year, to 250,000, and to add Civic Hybrid production by early 2013. The Indiana plant added a second shift in October 2011, creating 1,000 new positions and doubling the plant's capacity to 200,000 vehicles per year.
Honda also said it will increase exports from North America. Before year end Honda will reach the 1 million mark in total automobile exports from the United States.
Honda also is increasing its export of major auto parts by almost 70 percent this year in support of Honda plants in South America, Europe and Asia. Honda called that "a substantial increase in business for North American suppliers that will grow even greater in the coming years."
Honda produced the first Japanese car made in America on Nov. 1, 1982, when the first Honda Accord, a gray sedan, rolled off the assembly line at the Marysville plant. Honda also was the first Japanese automaker to build engines and transmissions in the United States and to export U.S.-built vehicles overseas.
-- Bloomberg
