Honda plans new Ga. plant, expansion of Ala. facility

<p>Honda Motor Co. has plans to build a $100 million auto transmission plant in Tallapoosa, Ga., that's expected to create 400 jobs.</p><p>The company also said on Tuesday it will expand plants in Ohio and Lincoln, Ala., 45 miles from the state line, as part of a $270 million investment plan by Honda that will create 600 jobs in the three states.</p><p>The plan is part of Honda's new strategy to increase the production of advanced automatic transmissions to expand their production of light trucks that includes sport-utility vehicles, said Koichi Kondo, president of Honda's American operations.</p><p>In Ohio, Honda will invest $100 million and add 100 new jobs in a plan that would allow the plant to produce high precision gears that previously were made only in Japan. Another $70 million will be invested and 100 new jobs will be created in an expansion of Honda's engine production plant at Lincoln, Ala.</p><p>Kondo and Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue made the announcement in Atlanta.</p><p>"It's a tremendous win for Haralson County and for the state," Perdue said, adding that 400 more jobs could be created at the Georgia plant in the future. "It reinforces Georgia as a center for component parts in the automotive industry in the growing Southeast."</p><p>The Georgia plant is expected to begin operation in late 2006 and produce some 300,000 automatic transmissions annually, mainly for sport-utility vehicles assembled at Honda's Ohio plant, Kondo said. Tallapoosa is a city of about 3,000 people located 40 miles west of Atlanta.</p><p>The plant will initially support production of Honda Odyssey minivans and Pilot SUVs in Lincoln, Ala., 60 miles west of the Tallapoosa plant.</p><p>"The close proximity of these operations will increase the efficiency of our North American capabilities," Kondo said.</p>

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