Honda celebrated the production start of the redesigned 2015 Fit at its new plant in Celaya, Mexico. The event was attended by Enrique Pena Nieto, president of Mexico, and Takanobu Ito, president & CEO of Honda Motor Co.
With the new plant, Honda’s annual automobile production capacity in North America rises to approximately 1.92 million units, with the Japanese carmaker expecting that more than 95 percent of the Honda and Acura vehicles sold in the U.S. to be produced in North America when the Celaya plant reaches full capacity.
Construction of the $800 million plant started in early 2012, with the facility to employ 3,200 people with an annual capacity of 200,000 vehicles and engines when it reaches full production later this year. The plant currently produces the 2015 Honda Fit, but Honda said it will also manufacture an all-new compact SUV later this year, most likely the Vezel.
Designed exclusively for the production of subcompact vehicles, the plant will be complemented by a new $470 million transmission plant now under construction at the same site in Celaya. The transmission plant is expected to begin production of continuously variable transmissions (CVT) in the second half of 2015, with employment of approximately 1,500 people.
The new factopries will boost Honda’s capital investment in its North American operations to more than $21 billion. Honda employs more than 33,000 people in North America and has four auto plants, two auto engine production facilities and two transmission plants in the United States, and two auto plants and an auto engine plant in Canada.
The Celaya plant is Honda’s second facility in Mexico, with the first one being established in El Salto, Jalisco in 1995.
By Dan Mihalascu
PHOTO GALLERY
