Honda to build auto plant in the Midwest

<p>The $400 million plant that Honda Motor Co. plans to add in North America as part of a global expansion will employ 1,500 workers and be built in the Midwest by 2008, company officials said Wednesday.</p><p>Honda officials would not say which states are under consideration for the plant or when a decision will be made, other than the company is in the final stages of securing a site. Ohio and Indiana officials have said they are in the running for the site.</p><p>Earlier Wednesday, the automaker announced plans to build the new plant in the United States _ its sixth in North America _ part of a sweeping $1.18 billion plan to meet soaring demand for its cars.</p><p>"We'd like to have it sooner rather than later," Larry Jutte, a senior Honda vice president, said during a conference call with reporters. "We're in the final phases of our due-diligence process for selection."</p><p>Jutte said no decision has yet been made on what kind of vehicles the plant will produce.</p><p>Honda also plans to erect a new assembly factory in Japan and an engine plant in Canada. The three plants are aimed at meeting an ambitious 34 percent increase in annual sales to 4.5 million vehicles a year by 2010, Honda President and CEO Takeo Fukui said at a news conference in Tokyo.</p><p>Honda said it will invest a total of $665 million and create 1,900 jobs in North America to expand production.</p><p>It will include construction of the new $140 million engine plant in Canada, which will produce 200,000 units a year and create 340 jobs. The company will also invest $125 million to expand production at existing engine plants in Ohio and Georgia, creating 80 new jobs.</p><p>Jutte said engines from the Canadian plant and the one in Anna, Ohio, will supply the new auto assembly plant.</p><p>Honda also said it will introduce a new, more affordable hybrid car in 2009, producing 100,000 units a year. And the automaker said that in the next three years it will introduce new diesel-engine technology designed to increase fuel economy by 2010.</p>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2006/5/123787