Honda announced today that it will invest $800 million to build a new assembly plant in Mexico. The factory, which is expected to be operational in 2014, will employ around 3,200 workers producing up to 200,000 vehicles per year.
The plant will be built near the city of Celaya, 210 miles east of the Japanese company’s two existing factories where cars, auto parts and motorcycles are produced. It will be Honda’s eighth plant in North America.
Honda has not specified yet which models will be assembled at the plant, stating only that it will manufacture subcompact cars.
The two prime candidates, which are already available in the US, are the Fit/Jazz and the CR-Z hybrid coupe, with the larger Insight hybrid also being a possibility since all three cars are based on the same platform architecture.
With this move, Honda joins other Japanese carmakers including Nissan and Mazda that are trying to relocate production away from their home market due to the high yen and the increased labor costs.
The plant will be built near the city of Celaya, 210 miles east of the Japanese company’s two existing factories where cars, auto parts and motorcycles are produced. It will be Honda’s eighth plant in North America.
Honda has not specified yet which models will be assembled at the plant, stating only that it will manufacture subcompact cars.
The two prime candidates, which are already available in the US, are the Fit/Jazz and the CR-Z hybrid coupe, with the larger Insight hybrid also being a possibility since all three cars are based on the same platform architecture.
With this move, Honda joins other Japanese carmakers including Nissan and Mazda that are trying to relocate production away from their home market due to the high yen and the increased labor costs.