Honda rolls out 20 millionth automobile in the US

The 10 millionth U.S.-built Honda Accord rolled off the assembly line yesterday at Honda's first US auto plant in Marysville, Ohio, as all four Honda auto plants in America celebrated the cumulative production of 20 million automobiles in the US. Honda also marked the achievement at two engine and two transmission plants that build the powertrains used in Honda's US-built cars and trucks.

The Marysville Auto Plant is the historic site of the first Accord produced in America on November 1, 1982, and the first Japanese auto plant to begin production of automobiles in the United States. Since then, Honda has established automobile manufacturing operations in East Liberty, Ohio, Lincoln, Ala., and Greensburg, Ind.

Those plants today manufacture 11 different models, including four passenger cars and seven light trucks. A fifth US plant, the Performance Manufacturing Center, is under construction in Marysville, Ohio, and next year will become the exclusive global production location for the next-generation Acura NSX.

Honda's US plants produced a record 1,309,917 automobiles in 2013, an increase of 7.4 percent from the previous annual mark set in 2012. Honda is supported by a network of 533 suppliers in the U.S., with purchasing of parts and components last year exceeding $23 billion (Rs 140,300 crore).

Honda's four US auto plants are supported by engine manufacturing in Lincoln, Ala. and Anna, Ohio, and the production of automatic transmissions in Russells Point, Ohio, and Tallapoosa, Ga. These plants have produced 23.77 million automobile engines and 18.64 million transmissions in the United States. In 2013, nearly 95 percent of the Honda and Acura automobiles sold in the U.S. were produced in North America.

Over the past three years, Honda has invested approximately $1.6 billion in its US auto plants to expand production and implement new technologies in products and manufacturing systems.

“We are deeply aware that our ability to reach this milestone results from the trust that 20 million customers have placed in our products, and we appreciate their support over the past three decades,” said Hidenobu Iwata, president and CEO of Honda of America Mfg. and head of Honda's North American manufacturing. “We also value the commitment made by tens of thousands of associates at Honda and our hundreds of suppliers in the U.S. who build products of the highest quality for our customers.”

Honda US automobile production

Photographs: The first Honda Accord produced in America on November 1, 1982 in Ohio (exhibited at the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit now) on the left, and the 10 millionth Accord produced in America on March 20, 2014 on the right.