Following the announcement that it became a net vehicle exporter in 2013, Honda’s U.S. subsidiary marked a double milestone by building its 20 millionth vehicle in the United States, as well as the 10 millionth U.S.-built Accord sedan at the company’s Marysville, Ohio assembly plant.
Inaugurated on November 1, 1982, the plant was Honda’s first production facility in the U.S., as well as the first Japanese auto plant to begin production in America.
Since then, Honda has set up automobile manufacturing operations in East Liberty, Ohio, Lincoln, Alabama, and Greensburg, Indiana. These factories currently build 11 different models, including four passenger cars and seven light trucks. Honda’s U.S. plants produced a record 1,309,917 automobiles in 2013, an increase of 7.4 percent from 2012.
A fifth U.S. plant, the Performance Manufacturing Center, is under construction in Marysville, Ohio, and next year will become the exclusive global production location for the next generation Acura NSX.
The Honda Accord sedan was the Japanese carmaker’s first model built in the U.S. 32 years ago, with the Marysville plant now producing the Accord Sedan, Coupe and Accord Hybrid. Accord models also were produced for four years at the East Liberty Auto Plant and two years at Honda Manufacturing of Alabama.
Besides the vehicle manufacturing plants, Honda also has engine manufacturing facilities in Lincoln, Alabama and Anna, Ohio, as well as automatic transmission plants in Russells Point, Ohio, and Tallapoosa, Georgia. These plants have produced 23.77 million automobile engines and 18.64 million transmissions in the United States.
In 2013, nearly 95 percent of the Honda and Acura automobiles sold in the U.S. were produced in North America.
By Dan Mihalascu
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