Honda to Build new Plant in North America

[Dragon]

Honda to build new North American plant

by HANS GREIMEL -- Associated Press posted May 16, 2006

 

TOKYO - Honda Motor Co. (NYSE:HMC) plans to build a new automobile factory in North America, according to a news report Tuesday, as the Japanese car-maker tries to bring supply in line with surging sales.

The assembly plant would be Tokyo-based Honda's sixth in a region that accounts for about half the company's annual global sales. The location of the factory is not yet decided but it is slated to open in 2009 with a capacity of 150,000 vehicles a year, the Nihon Keizai newspaper said, without citing sources for the information.

Honda spokesman Shigeki Endo declined to comment on the report, which he said was "just based on speculation."

Honda was scheduled to hold a news conference on an undisclosed topic Wednesday in Tokyo. Endo would not give details about the conference except to say "several" things would be announced.

Honda sold 1.65 million units in North America last year and forecasts sales to rise to 1.72 million units in the current year. The company now has annual production capacity of 1.4 million units in North America with five plants, meaning Honda must import autos to meet North American demand.

Honda has two plants in Ohio, and one plant each in Alabama, Mexico and Alliston, Ont., northwest of Toronto.

Endo said the company wants to keep its ratio of domestically-built autos steady at around 80 per cent to the total sold in North America. The target implies that Honda has to somehow crank up North American output.

"We would like to boost both sales and capacity," Endo said, adding that no plans beyond this year have been announced.

Worldwide, the company sole 3.365 million units last year, and is forecasting sales to rise 9.7 per cent to 3.693 million units in the current business year ending March 2007.

It is likely the new plant will be built near an existing one, and the new facility is expected to roll out such models as the Civic, and the Fit, a small, five-door model that the firm had been exporting from Japan, the Nihon Keizai said.

Under the expansion plan, the facility would eventually be fitted with a second production line to boost capacity to 300,000 units, which combined with other upgrades, could bring Honda's total North American output to 1.8 million vehicles - about the same as that of larger rival Toyota Motor Corp., according to the newspaper.

Rumour has it Alliston (down the street from me) is the leading candidate. A lot of farms around the plant have been bought out, and our healthcare/literacy rates are a big plus. Hopefully our strong dollar isn’t too much of a deterrent.

[Hudson]

Rumour has it Alliston (down the street from me) is the leading candidate.  A lot of farms around the plant have been bought out, and our healthcare/literacy rates are a big plus.  Hopefully our strong dollar isn’t too much of a deterrent.

More importantly, what's the unemployment rate in the area?

[cavalier36]

if Honda is smart they will build this plant somewhere in Northeast Ohio. somewhere between Cleveland and Youngstown.. youngstown would be a good choice because there is a high unemployment rate, the real estate is bargain basement cheap, most workers there eiether have worked in manufacturing before or currently do. they cost of living is really low.. there are alot of suppliers in the area due to the fact GM's lordstown plant is in the area.