Honda proclaimed they plan to make a new Acura SUV at their facility in Ohio in 2006. Honda of America will build the vehicle at plants in either Marysville or East Liberty. Honda of America oversees manufacturing in Ohio for Tokyo-based Honda Motor Company Ltd.
Don
Hensley, a Honda spokesman based in Marysville, said the company will spend the
next year getting ready for the CR-V. The Marysville plant makes the Honda
Accord and Acura TL, while the East Liberty plant produces the Honda Civic and
Element SUV.
The company
hasn't decided how many SUVs it will make in Ohio, Hensley said, or determined
the effect on the production of other models. Accord sales were off 6.1 percent
at 371,307 vehicles sold for the first 11 months of the year, Honda said Dec. 1,
although CR-V sales jumped 1 percent to 132,575 units sold.
Taking on
production of the CRV shouldn't have a "significant effect" on employment
levels, Hensley said.
Although
the CR-V is one of Honda's top sellers, it is one of the few vehicles the
company doesn't make in the United States, Hensley said. CR-Vs for the U.S.
market come from the United Kingdom or Japan, he said.
"Adding
CR-V production to Ohio is another example of building products close to our
customers," Koki Hirashima, president and chief executive officer of Honda of
America, said in a press release.
Honda
expects its U.K. manufacturing plants to focus on making diesel products,
Hensley said.
Both the
Marysville and East Liberty plants have a flexible manufacturing system that
will ease the transition, Hensley said. Workers in East Liberty often build
Elements and Civics one after the other, he noted.
Honda of
America said in September it planned to build the upcoming Acura SUV in Ohio.
Although many details are still under wraps, the automaker has said the model
will be smaller and less expensive than the MDX, another Acura SUV. Acura is
Honda's luxury and performance line.
Honda of
America is Central Ohio's largest private employer, with more than 13,000
workers at four plants in Marysville, East Liberty and Anna.
