Honda to Build Vehicle, Engine Plant in Mexico

Honda says it will invest $800 million in a new vehicle and engine plant in Mexico that will have capacity to produce 200,000 units annually beginning in 2014.

The Japanese auto maker does not reveal the models to be built at the new facility, saying only that it will produce “fuel-efficient subcompact vehicles” there.

The 60.9 million-sq.-ft. (5.66 million-sq.-m) plant will be located in a suburb of Celaya, Guanajuato, about 210 miles (340 km) east of Honda’s existing automobile, motorcycle and parts operations in El Salto, Jalisco.

It will be the auto maker’s eighth automobile plant in North America and increase its capacity in the region to 1.83 million vehicles in 2014, from 1.63 million today.

Honda will employ 3,200 workers at the facility once full production is reached.

“With growing demand for fuel-efficient vehicles, this plant will increase Honda’s ability to meet customer needs for subcompact vehicles from within North America,” says Tetsuo Iwamura, president of American Honda and chief operating officer for Honda’s North America region.

Honda earlier announced it would add a second shift in October at its Greensburg, IN, plant that builds the Civic.

It will reinstate a second shift by the end of the year on Line 1 at its Marysville, OH, Honda Accord/Acura TL facility, which has been on one shift since January 2009.

The auto maker also is returning a second shift next month to an Alliston, ON, Canada, plant that produces the Civic. Honda went to one shift at the operation in May as a result of parts shortages caused by Japan’s earthquake.