Honda targets doubling exports from US

Honda will export about 100 000 units this year to markets in Europe, South America and Asia, said Rick Schostek, senior vice president of Honda of America Manufacturing.
“That number will double in the next couple of years,” he said at an Automotive Press Association event in Detroit.
In 2011, Honda’s operations in the US exported 53 000 units outside North America, he said.
Schostek announced that Honda will invest US$40 million in an Indiana plant to increase annual production capacity by                50 000 units, to a total of 250 000 vehicles.
The Greensburg, Indiana-based plant will hire roughly 300 new workers later this year in preparation for the increased production that will start early next year, he said.
The plant will add production of the Civic Hybrid, Honda’s most popular hybrid model in the United States. In April it became Honda’s first plant in North America to build a hybrid vehicle, the Acura ILX Hybrid.
Last year the Indiana plant opened a second shift of production that added approximately 1 000 jobs.
That was also the year that, for the first time, Honda built more vehicles in the United States than in Japan, as the Japanese automaking industry reeled from the March 2011 earthquake-tsunami disaster.
Honda’s production in the US was 823 000 units, compared with 710 000 in Japan.
In 2010, production was slightly higher in Japan but overall Honda is expanding production in the US and North America, where it began building cars in 1982.
“Nine of the 10 Honda and Acura vehicles we sell in the US will be built here,” said Shostek, adding that the North American operations will also take on a larger role in the development of key models such as the mid-sized Honda Accord.
Honda announced in August 2011 it would build a new assembly plant in central Mexico, slated to open in 2014.
The expansion in Mexico and at the Indiana plant will raise Honda’s total production capacity in North America, including Mexico and Canada, to 1,92 million units by the middle of the decade.
Since late last year, Honda’s seven automobile production plants in North America have been operating at or above their current full straight-time capacity, which totals 1,63 million vehicles per year, Schostek said.
Meanwhile, Honda Motor said yesterday it is recalling more than 320 000 vehicles worldwide because of a door lock defect.
The faulty locks could allow the vehicles’ doors to open unexpectedly, the automaker said, adding that its recall was for the 2012 CR-V sports utility vehicle and 2013 Acura ILX sedan.
The vast majority of the recall is for the               CRV model, sold mainly into Japan, North America, China and South America.
About 7 300 Acura models would be recalled from North America, the company added.
No accidents or injuries have been reported due to the door lock defect, a Honda spokesman said.
Japan’s car giants have recalled millions of vehicles in recent years as they have become more proactive about dealing with faults. — AFP.