Photo: Wiki Historian N OH / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0
MARYSVILLE, Ohio – Honda will invest $3 billion in a new auto plant on land between its existing Marysville and East Liberty plants in Central Ohio, adding more than 2,000 jobs and capacity to build 240,000 vehicles a year. Production is expected to begin in 2029, subject to final government approvals.
The photograph shows Honda’s existing Marysville plant in 2009, not the proposed new factory. The original photograph has been cropped to show the facade.
The November 9 announcement puts hybrid vehicles at the center of a larger manufacturing expansion. Honda says the new plant will also have the flexibility to make gasoline-powered and battery-electric vehicles, allowing it to adjust the mix as customer demand changes. It is a planned factory, not additional vehicles coming off the line today.
The $3 billion figure applies to the new Ohio assembly plant. Honda separately described investments at existing operations in Ohio, Alabama and Georgia, along with work in Canada, but did not give one combined price for the entire manufacturing program in its announcement.
The new facility will be Honda’s fourth auto plant in Ohio. Together with projects at existing factories, it is expected to bring the company’s annual U.S. vehicle-production capacity to about 1.3 million and North American capacity to about 1.9 million. Capacity is the amount the network could produce, not a forecast that every available slot will be used or every vehicle sold.
For Central Ohio, the immediate importance is the scale of the planned employment and investment. Honda is placing the factory inside an existing cluster of assembly plants, suppliers, vehicle-development operations and battery production rather than starting an isolated manufacturing site. The company cited the established workforce and nearby engineering and production operations among its reasons for choosing Ohio.
“These investments strengthen America’s role as a cornerstone of Honda’s global future,” said Bob Nelson, executive vice president of American Honda Motor Co. He said expanding research, development and manufacturing capabilities would help the company serve customers and support the communities where it operates.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine described the announcement as an investment in the state’s people as well as a new facility, pointing to the long relationship between Honda and Ohio. Honda began U.S. automobile production at Marysville in 1982. The new plant extends that manufacturing base, though the release does not provide a construction-completion date separate from the expected 2029 production start or a detailed hiring schedule.
The expansion is tied to Honda’s plan, announced in May, to introduce 15 new Honda and Acura hybrid models globally by 2030. North America is expected to be the main market for many of them. The company says designers and engineers in California and Ohio are developing multiple new models, without identifying which specific vehicles will be assigned to the new Ohio plant.
Assembly capacity is only one part of the program. At the Anna Engine Plant in Ohio, Honda is retooling an existing line for a next-generation four-cylinder Atkinson-cycle engine for future compact and midsize vehicles. It is also expanding an on-site parts-consolidation center expected to begin operating next year.
At Honda Transmission Plant-Ohio, work has begun to convert an existing transmission line into a second hybrid-system production line. Honda says its Ohio hybrid-system capacity will increase by 250% in the coming years. That percentage refers to powertrain systems, not a 250% increase in the number of completed vehicles produced in Ohio.
The Ohio transmission operation is preparing a next-generation hybrid system for production next year and planning another for larger vehicles. Honda Transmission Plant-Georgia will also add a line for next-generation hybrid systems for larger models in the coming years. The announcement does not provide an exact launch date for that larger-vehicle system.
In Alabama, Honda plans new equipment for a V6 hybrid engine and changes to vehicle-production operations that would let its first assembly line build the Passport, currently made only on the second line. The work links the assembly expansion with a wider effort to supply engines and hybrid systems within Honda’s manufacturing network.
The remaining uncertainties include final approvals, the timing of construction and hiring, the models assigned to the plant, and demand when production starts. Honda is committing to more capacity and flexibility, not guaranteeing future sales, profit or a fixed balance among hybrid, gasoline and electric vehicles. The central commitment is clear: a $3 billion Ohio factory and more than 2,000 jobs are planned, with production targeted for 2029.
JBizNews Desk | Marysville, Ohio
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