| Honda has announced plans to build a new carmaking plant at Yorii, around 35 km from its present factory at Sayama City in Saitama prefecture. It will also build a new plant in the US and an engine plant in Canada, and has announced significant capacity rises in other manufacturing operations.
The new Japanese plant is scheduled to open in 2010 and will have an annual production capacity of around 200,000 vehicles, raising Honda’s production in Japan to 1.5 million.
The new plant will cost Honda around ¥70 billion (€500 million) and will employ around 2,200 people.
Yorii is intended to be a testbed for efficient manufacturing systems for Honda plants worldwide, president and CEO Takeo Fukui said. “The new plant will be responsible for evolving these manufacturing systems to other Honda operations across the world,” he said.
In North America, Honda says it will build a 200,000 capacity plant at an as-yet undecided location, taking its North American volume from 1.4 million to 1.6 million. It intends to get production running at this site in 2008, and will employ 1,500 people.
In Canada, Honda intends to build an engine plant next to its Honda of Canada Mfg operation, making 200,000 four-cylinder engines a year. The Anna plant in Ohio will also raise supply of engine components as Honda bids to increase North American content in its vehicles.
Elsewhere, the group is increasing capacity in China by 120,000 cars a year to 530,000 and is to double the output of its Indian car plant three years early, with work complete by the end of 2007.
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