Honda will build new plant in Indiana
06-28-2006, 10:34 AM
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Honda will build new plant in Indiana
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...AH01A&refer=us
Honda Selects Indiana for $550 Million Assembly Plant
June 28 (Bloomberg) -- Honda Motor Co., the first Japanese automaker to build cars in the U.S., chose Indiana to be the home of its sixth North American assembly plant.
The $550 million Greensburg facility will employ at least 2,000 people when it opens in 2008, Koichi Kondo, Honda's North American chief executive officer and president, said today. The plant will assemble 200,000 four-cylinder cars annually, with the model to be specified later, Kondo said.
``We look forward to crossing the finish line together,'' Kondo said on a conference call. ``I look forward to saying, `Honda and Indiana, start your engines.'''
Honda is building the first new auto plant in the U.S. Midwest since Toyota Motor Corp. opened its Princeton, Indiana, facility in 1998. Honda, Japan's third-largest carmaker, passed up potentially more lucrative incentives from Southern states in favor of a site near its main North American parts suppliers.
Sites in Ohio and Illinois were considered along with Greensburg, which is 49 miles (78 kilometers) southeast of Indianapolis, the Indiana capital.
Mayor Frank Manus said Honda's arrival in Greensburg, a town of about 10,500 people, was among his ``wildest dreams.''
States in the southern U.S., including Texas, home to a Toyota plant opening later this year, have attracted most new auto-assembly facilities in the U.S. in the past decade.
U.S. Sales Gains
Honda needs the new plant to help it extend its U.S. sales gains as it expands its model line. The company's North American plants are running almost at full capacity on demand for Civic small cars, up 20 percent this year, and the start of production of CR-V and Acura RDX sport-utility vehicles at two Ohio plants.
The new factory will have ``the same type of flexibility found in all Honda plants,'' Akio Hamada, Honda's North American plant chief, said in Greensburg. The facility will be built in about 24 months, he said.
The U.S. market, Honda's biggest, accounts for more than half of the company's operating income. U.S. sales through May 2006 rose 8.6 percent, a pace exceeded among major automakers only by Toyota's 8.8 percent increase.
The Greensburg plant is part of a $1.46 billion global expansion announced last month that includes a new engine factory in Canada, a car and engine plant in Japan, and enlargements of existing U.S. engine and transmission factories.
Global Production
The projects will give Honda capacity to build and sell 4.5 million autos worldwide by 2010. The company said on April 26 that it expects global sales of 3.7 million vehicles this year.
Honda began making autos in the U.S. in 1982 in Marysville, Ohio, its largest North American factory. It has since added assembly plants in East Liberty, Ohio; Alliston, Ontario; Lincoln, Alabama; and El Salto, Mexico.
The Greensburg plant will boost Honda's North American production capacity to 1.6 million cars and trucks when it opens, 16 percent more than the company's current regional output.
Honda's U.S. operations are based in Torrance, California. The company's American depositary receipts fell 11 cents to $30.55 at 11:03 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock rose 5.8 percent this year through yesterday.
June 28 (Bloomberg) -- Honda Motor Co., the first Japanese automaker to build cars in the U.S., chose Indiana to be the home of its sixth North American assembly plant.
The $550 million Greensburg facility will employ at least 2,000 people when it opens in 2008, Koichi Kondo, Honda's North American chief executive officer and president, said today. The plant will assemble 200,000 four-cylinder cars annually, with the model to be specified later, Kondo said.
``We look forward to crossing the finish line together,'' Kondo said on a conference call. ``I look forward to saying, `Honda and Indiana, start your engines.'''
Honda is building the first new auto plant in the U.S. Midwest since Toyota Motor Corp. opened its Princeton, Indiana, facility in 1998. Honda, Japan's third-largest carmaker, passed up potentially more lucrative incentives from Southern states in favor of a site near its main North American parts suppliers.
Sites in Ohio and Illinois were considered along with Greensburg, which is 49 miles (78 kilometers) southeast of Indianapolis, the Indiana capital.
Mayor Frank Manus said Honda's arrival in Greensburg, a town of about 10,500 people, was among his ``wildest dreams.''
States in the southern U.S., including Texas, home to a Toyota plant opening later this year, have attracted most new auto-assembly facilities in the U.S. in the past decade.
U.S. Sales Gains
Honda needs the new plant to help it extend its U.S. sales gains as it expands its model line. The company's North American plants are running almost at full capacity on demand for Civic small cars, up 20 percent this year, and the start of production of CR-V and Acura RDX sport-utility vehicles at two Ohio plants.
The new factory will have ``the same type of flexibility found in all Honda plants,'' Akio Hamada, Honda's North American plant chief, said in Greensburg. The facility will be built in about 24 months, he said.
The U.S. market, Honda's biggest, accounts for more than half of the company's operating income. U.S. sales through May 2006 rose 8.6 percent, a pace exceeded among major automakers only by Toyota's 8.8 percent increase.
The Greensburg plant is part of a $1.46 billion global expansion announced last month that includes a new engine factory in Canada, a car and engine plant in Japan, and enlargements of existing U.S. engine and transmission factories.
Global Production
The projects will give Honda capacity to build and sell 4.5 million autos worldwide by 2010. The company said on April 26 that it expects global sales of 3.7 million vehicles this year.
Honda began making autos in the U.S. in 1982 in Marysville, Ohio, its largest North American factory. It has since added assembly plants in East Liberty, Ohio; Alliston, Ontario; Lincoln, Alabama; and El Salto, Mexico.
The Greensburg plant will boost Honda's North American production capacity to 1.6 million cars and trucks when it opens, 16 percent more than the company's current regional output.
Honda's U.S. operations are based in Torrance, California. The company's American depositary receipts fell 11 cents to $30.55 at 11:03 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock rose 5.8 percent this year through yesterday.
06-28-2006, 04:46 PM
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The likely first model to be built at this new plant: the second-generation Honda Fit. Honda could produce as many as 200,000 Fits at this new plant, just in time for the full-model change (FMC) of the car. 
