Honda will invest $355 million in upgrading its Ohio plants in order to maximize its productivity and economy gains in the locally-built models that are available in North America, according to a report from Bloomberg.
The news comes less than two weeks after the Japanese company’s decision to build a brand-new plant in Mexico capable of producing 200,000 cars a year, investing another $800 million.
Honda’s spokesman Ron Lietzke said that the Ohio investment includes $166 million of improvements to its plant in Marysville. Lietzke added that the Japanese company would also improve its 2010-built half-scale wind tunnel and its engineering center in Raymond, though he wouldn’t divulge any financial details.
The first Asian carmaker to build a factory in the US back in 1982 is making this kind of investment to increase production of its Honda and Acura models and make up the losses caused by the March 11 earthquake that resulted in a 26% drop in its US, Canada and Mexico plants output due to the lack of parts.
Honda’s US sales decreased 2.6% in the first seven months of 2011 while its market share has dropped from 10.6% in 2010 to 9.3% this year.
