(August 12, 2011) EL SALTO, Jalisco, Mexico — Honda de Mexico, S.A. de C.V., (HDM), Honda's production and sales company in Mexico, today announced that it will build an automobile plant for production of fuel-efficient subcompact vehicles for the Mexican and North American markets.

Honda will invest approximately $800 million to build the plant, which is scheduled to begin operation in 2014.

Expected to employ approximately 3,200 associates at its full annual capacity of 200,000 units, the plant will occupy a 18-million square foot site in a suburb of Celaya, Guanajuato, about 210 miles east of HDM's two existing plants in El Salto, Jalisco, which build automobiles, motorcycles and auto parts.

The new Honda plant will apply Honda's advanced and highly efficient manufacturing system to produce vehicles and engines. By increasing use of local parts and materials, together with global parts sourcing, the new plant will provide customers with high-quality products at an affordable price.

The plant will be the eighth Honda auto plant in North America — and its 10th auto assembly line — and will boost Honda's capital investment in its North American operations to nearly $21 billion.

Honda employs more than 33,000 associates in North America. Production operations related to automobiles include four auto plants, two auto engine production facilities and two transmission plants in the United States, two auto plants and an auto engine plant in Canada, and an auto plant in El Salto.

The new plant in Mexico will increase Honda's automobile production capacity in North America from the current 1.63 million units to 1.83 million units in 2014. In 2010, more than 87 percent of Honda and Acura cars and light trucks sold in America were produced in North America.

In North America, Honda produces global models such as Civic, Accord and CR-V as well as region-specific light truck models including the Odyssey and Pilot. The smallest automobile currently produced by Honda in North America is the compact Honda Civic, which is built at Honda plants in Indiana and Ontario, Canada.

In addition to the new auto plant in Mexico, Honda recently announced plans to expand production at several of its plants in the U.S. and Canada:

    • The Honda plant in Greensburg, Ind., which builds the Civic Sedan and Civic Natural Gas vehicle, will add a new second shift in October of this year.
    • The Marysville, Ohio, auto plant which builds the Accord Sedan and Coupe, and the Acura TL, will reinstate second-shift production on Line 1 by the end of 2011, returning to full, two-shift production for the first time since January 2009.
    • In Canada, Alliston Plant 1, which builds the Civic Sedan, Civic Coupe, Civic Si coupe and sedan, and the Civic HF, will return to full, two-shift operations in September. In May, the plant consolidated its two shifts into one-shift operation to cope with parts supply issues following the earthquake in Japan.