Honda officials show off new Alabama facility

LINCOLN, Ala. - Honda officials showed off their new Alabama facility Sunday, hosting more than 5,200 visitors at an open house. <br> <br> Among the visitors at the new Honda Manufacturing of Alabama plant were Gov. Don Siegelman and U.S. Rep. Bob Riley, who are campaigning for the Democrat and Republican gubernatorial nominations respectively. <br> <br> At Sunday&#39;s open House, the leadership of the Alabama facility was transferred from Mikio Yoshimi to Masaaki Kato, the new chief executive officer of Honda Manufacturing of Alabama. <br> <br> Yoshimi, who is returning to Japan to head human resources for Honda Motor Co., showed he had picked up a little Southern lingo while working in Alabama. <br> <br> He opened his remarks with &#34;How are y&#39;all doing?&#34; and closed with, &#34;Thank you and best wishes to y&#39;all.&#34; <br> <br> Visitors were given a tour of the $580 million, 1.7 million-square-foot plant. The plant has been operating since November and recently added a second shift. <br> <br> Kato said the plant has already turned out more than 15,000 Odyssey minivans and has hired more than 2,000 workers. When it is running at full capacity later this year, the plant will produce 650 minivans and engines daily. <br> <br>