Honda to boost manufacturing in U.S., Brazil

Honda will spend $453 million building a new assembly plant in Brazil and roughly $215 million boosting manufacturing capabilities in the United States.

The Japanese firm's announcement, made on Thursday, states that the new Brazilian plant will be located approximately 200km northwest of the city of Sao Paulo. The plant will be able to manufacture roughly 120,000 vehicles a year, doubling Honda's output locally as the automaker tries to secure additional marketshare in the world's fourth-largest car market.

Honda currently operates one plant in Brazil which can produce 120,000 vehicles a year. The new addition will not only increase this annual number to 240,000, but before the end of 2013, the automaker plans to establish a new automobile R&D center in the country to "accommodate the needs of local customers in Brazil."

The plant will become operational in 2015.

Masahiro Takedagawa, Honda's COO for Regional Operations in South America commented:

"As the world's fourth largest automobile market, Brazil is a very important market for Honda’s operation in South America. Taking advantage of the capacity expansion, Honda will continue offering a wide range of attractive products that exceed the expectations of our customers in Brazil."

In the United States, Honda plans to add new powertrain operations, technical and training centers to Ohio plants, as well as spend approximately $180 million to expand aluminium die casting and engine parts production.

Honda is attempting to reach global sales targets of six million vehicles by March 2017. In 2012's fiscal year, the Japanese firm sold 4.01 million cars.

Via: The Wall Street Journal | Honda

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com