Detroit – Japan’s Honda Motor Co., on a push to expand its sales of fuel-efficient cars in the United States, said it would spend $400 million to build a sixth North American assembly plant, creating 1,500 jobs.
At a news conference today in Tokyo, Honda President Takeo Fakui said the company also would spend $639 million to build its first new plant in Japan since 1976 and $140 million on an engine plant in Canada. Further, Honda said it would build a new family-size hybrid electric car to go on sale in 2009.
Honda did not disclose where it would build the North American factory. It has two plants in Ohio and one each in Alabama, Mexico and Ontario, Canada. The plant would make 200,000 cars a year, starting in 2008.
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who has courted foreign investment to revive his Rust Belt state, confirmed that the state was trying to win the Honda factory. Ohio officials said they were talking to Honda about expanding its operations there.
Honda ranks second among Japanese auto companies in American sales, behind Toyota.
The new American plant is expected to build the small Honda Civic, which the automaker already produces in East Liberty, Ohio, and the Fit, a subcompact sold in Japan and just offered for sale here.
Daniels has seized on foreign investment to offset job cuts by companies such as General Motors and Delphi Corp. But he is not alone: The Tennessee Valley Authority, for example, has a number of plant sites ready for development. And Kentucky, where Toyota has a big factory complex in Georgetown, also would like to land another foreign auto plant.