Kondratiev thought he’d check in on how Honda was doing while the Detroit Three were begging scraps from Congress. Not bad -- on October 27, 2008, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., announced a summary of automobile production, Japan domestic sales, and export results for the month of September 2008 and the first half of the current fiscal year (April-September 2008), including all-time records for worldwide auto production and production in regions outside of Japan for the first half of a fiscal year.
Honda Motor has announced that its worldwide vehicle production for the year-to-date increased 3.4% to 2,985,638 units, compared to the same period of 2007. 915,574 of those cars were made in Japan, and 1,095,828 were made in North America!
Honda began operations in the U.S. in 1959 with the establishment of American Honda Motor Co., Inc., Honda's first overseas subsidiary. Honda began U.S. production in Ohio in 1979, and began U.S. automobile production in 1982 at its Marysville, Ohio, auto plant. The company has invested more than $10.6 billion in its North America operations, including 16 major manufacturing facilities employing more than 35,000 associates and producing more than 2 million products annually, including Honda and Acura automobiles as well as motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles, personal watercraft, lawn mowers, general-purpose engines, and other power equipment products. Honda currently partners with more than 650 North American suppliers and purchased more than $18.8 billion in parts and materials from North American suppliers in 2007.
On October 9, 2008, Honda Manufacturing of Indiana, LLC began mass production of the fuel-efficient, 4-cylinder Honda Civic sedan at its new facility in Greensburg, Indiana. The $550 million facility will ultimately produce 200,000 vehicles, and employ 2,000 associates at full capacity.
Nearly 900 Indiana associates have been conducting trial production for several months, refining new processes and equipment, and learning to meet Honda standards for quality, efficiency and flexibility. Today’s start up of mass production culminates several weeks of department-by-department production start-ups in stamping, welding, painting, plastic injection molding, body assembly and other areas.
Currently, Honda Manufacturing of Indiana is operating on one shift with plans to add a second shift in 2009. The Honda Civic sedan being built in Indiana features the 140-hp, 1.8-liter, 16-valve SOHC i-VTEC® 4-cylinder gasoline engine produced by Honda associates at a Honda engine plant in nearby Anna, Ohio.
Honda announced plans to build the Greensburg facility in June 2006, and broke ground for the new production facility in March 2007. The new plant is a comprehensive production facility that includes metal stamping, plastic injection molding, subassembly and final assembly and other processes. Honda Manufacturing of Indiana sits on a 1,700 acre parcel facing Interstate 74 in Greensburg.
Honda has designed the Greensburg facility to be a flexible, efficient and environmentally responsible auto manufacturing facility. The plant will be Honda’s second U.S. auto plant designed as a zero waste to landfill facility. It will help to boost Honda’s total North American automobile production capacity from 1.42 million units to more than 1.62 million.
