Posted on 05/16/2006 2:16:39 PM PDT by BurbankKarl
Honda Motor Co. plans to build a new automobile factory in North America, according to a news report Tuesday, as the Japanese carmaker tries to bring supply in line with surging sales.
The assembly plant would be Tokyo-based Honda's sixth in a region that accounts for about half the company's annual global sales.
The location of the factory is not yet decided but it is slated to open in 2009 with a capacity of 150,000 vehicles a year, the Nihon Keizai newspaper said, without citing sources for the information.
Honda spokesman Shigeki Endo declined to comment on the report, which he said was "just based on speculation."
Honda was scheduled to hold a news conference on an undisclosed topic Wednesday in Tokyo. Endo would not give details about the conference except to say "several" things would be announced.
Honda sold 1.65 million units in North America last year and forecasts sales to rise to 1.72 million units in the current year. The company now has annual production capacity of 1.4 million units in North America with five plants, meaning Honda must import autos to meet North American demand.
Honda has two plants in Ohio, and one plant each in Alabama, Canada and Mexico.
Endo said the company wants to keep its ratio of domestically-built autos steady at around 80 percent to the total sold in North America. The target implies that Honda has to somehow crank up North American output.
"We would like to boost both sales and capacity," Endo said, adding that no plans beyond this year have been announced.
Worldwide, the company sole 3.365 million units last year, and is forecasting sales to rise 9.7 percent to 3.693 million units in the current business year ending March 2007.
It is likely the new plant will be built near an existing one, and the new facility is expected to roll out such models as the Civic, and the Fit, a small, five-door model that the firm had been exporting from Japan, the Nihon Keizai said.
Under the expansion plan, the facility would eventually be fitted with a second production line to boost capacity to 300,000 units, which combined with other upgrades, could bring Honda's total North American output to 1.8 million vehicles -- about the same as that of larger rival Toyota Motor Corp., according to the newspaper.
So, buy American?
Just making cars the domestic automakers are too stupid and union-strung to make.
American auto manufacturers had the chance to learn Deming and reject unions, but failed at both. It's time to pay the piper.
LOLOLOLOLOL
I noted that with wry amusement, the Camry I just purchased is more an American car than my Lincoln Grand Marquis is.
I'd like to see them buy the Ford plant that just closed in St. Louis.
Honda builds very reliable, conservatively styled, vehicles and that appeals to a lot of consumers. Honda has reaped the rewards of building a product that consumers want to purchase.
Ahem...the not-so Big Three.
Toyota was able to make a success of the Fremont, California GM Plant once they took over management of that facility in the early 1980's. They even kept the UAW.
Amazing what good management can do.
DETROIT -- United Auto Workers members have voted to authorize a strike against auto supplier Delphi Corp. -- a move that could threaten already tense wage negotiations between the two sides.
The union said more than 95 percent of members who voted approved the strike authorization. The measure allows UAW to call a strike against Delphi if it feels one is needed.
The UAW is the largest of Delphi's six unions. It represents 24,000 of the company's 33,000 U.S. hourly workers.
A strike at Delphi, which has Indiana operations in Kokomo and Anderson, could harm several automakers who depend on its parts. A strike also could paralyze General Motors, which could lose up to $130 million a day in such an event, according to analysts.
The strike votes give Delphi's unions more weight in their ongoing wage negotiations with the company. Delphi, which filed for bankruptcy protection in October, has proposed cutting its U.S. hourly workers' wages from $27 an hour to $16.50 an hour, or as low as $12.50 an hour if GM doesn't agree to supplement those wages.
Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All
Doing jobs, Japanese don't want to do
On an auto forum that I frequent we call them the big 2 1/2.
Low tax Red States get ALL the jobs. The Wall Street Journal cites astonishing research on this today. High tax Blue States grow NOTHING except rich lawyers and democrat politicos.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/federation/feature/?id=110008350
Domestic automakers depended on loyalty from loyal Americans --- really Republicans to support them.
It worked, I bought Big 3, even though the cars/trucks were inferior (and I buy lots of trucks for my Co -- 50+ new fleet trucks every year, sometimes 100). Always Ford or Chevy (never really dodge). Had some Nissan Titans.
With the UAW supporting Democrats, they've lost my loyalty.
I suspect the same can be same with many Republicans.
Next year: 50 Nissan Titans.
Honda is in business to make a profit and the profits go to the Japanese. This is the behavior of a 3rd world nation
One of my most favorite work weeks of my career was in a Deming seminar.
My favorite quote was, "If you can recognize a problem, you know how to fix it. If you do not fix it, you are 100% wrong. If you try to fix it, your odds improve to at least 50%".
There are a number of the remaining auto suppliers in Southern California making the move to Nashville too....I guess Tenessee didnt stop with Nissan HQ.
Those Nissan profits go to the Japanese. The American tradition is to keep profits in America
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.