Honda’s brand new Greensburg, Indiana, assembly plant began full production of the Civic late last week. Ultimately, the facility, which is located off of Interstate 74 about half way between Indianapolis, Indiana, and Cincinnati, Ohio, will be capable of producing 200,000 Civics and will employ over 2,000 workers, Honda says.
Honda announced the facility just two years ago and broke ground in 2007. Currently, the plant employs about 900 workers, though that number is expected to increase by about 1,000 within a year. Honda now produces most Civics sold in North America in Marysville, Ohio, Alliston, Ontario, and Greensburg. Engines for the Civic come from Anna, Ohio.
The plant is currently operating on one shift, but it will move to a two-shift system early in 2009 as production ramps up. The first Civic to roll of the line, a crystal black pearl 2009 sedan (pictured), was finished at 7:50 a.m. on Oct. 9.
10/14, 10:29 AM
posted by:
inspire
I guess with the currency exchange, it’s cheaper for Japan to make cars here and ship them back to their Homeland. But the thing is … will the Japanese Domestic Market accept ‘non-Japanese’ made product?
I am also shocked to see a car company ramp up its “domestic” (ie for US market) production of vehicles. Everyone else seems to be cutting production yet Honda is adding more capacity? Guess no one wants to buy their SUVs (their newly redesigned Pilot is a turd with their odd shape — 5100 units last month … selling WORSE than the outgoing model last year at the same time) so they will catch those who want to buy a car that’s good on gas.
10/14, 10:52 AM
posted by:
tripleonefive
What about the Fit ? Make more Fits or I will have a fit lol
Its better looking and sportier than the yaris or the Versa. I dont even count the Aveo
10/14, 11:10 AM
posted by:
rds130
Where do you get the idea that Honda doesn’t make Civic’s in Japan? The 8th generation Civic was designed by Acura Canada as the CSX first, and the Japanese adopted its styling, but that doesn’t mean they’re not built in Japan.
10/14, 11:12 AM
posted by:
Mike the loser
Aveo??????????
The WORST car in USA.
10/14, 1:03 PM
posted by:
elviososa
Wrong…AZTEK is the worst….and GM holds most of the title of THE WORST CAR in the USA….ie. Hummer H2, AZTEK, AVEO, UPLANDER and its clones…
10/14, 2:04 PM
posted by:
Khyber1921
To answer the question “inspire” has proposed earlier, that the japanese market will not be open to U.S. made Civics, the answer is no. By no, I mean that the Japanese market will not care about where their cars are produced. The idea that they would care is rooted in protectionist concepts that Japan was fond of in the 70’s and early 80’s. In fact, the same could go for the U.S. at that time period in terms of Japanese cars being imported.
Furthermore, one must ask for whom the Civics are being made? I’d assume that the plant was going to produce CIvics for the U.S. market and maybe some other countries in the Americas, not necessarily any for Japan and definitely none for Europe.
10/14, 2:27 PM
posted by:
Catiadesigner
Poor Aveo, I worked on that when it was still a daewoo back in 1996.
It was piss poor then, but it was cheap.
10/14, 3:29 PM
posted by:
mayer_ray_nagin
They should make that hot Civic Hatch (from the UK) in Indiana and offer it here. Not that abortion-of-a-sedan they stuck us with.
10/14, 5:42 PM
posted by:
Vinny_P
Honda has 3 plants as it stated above making vehicles for the Canadian and American Markets, none of the civics are sent outside the Western Hemisphere. Honda UK Manufacturing makes the Civics for the UK european market. And Honda has multiple facilities in Asia that supply civics to Japan and other parts of Asia.
You must know that the American Civic is unique that it is only sold in north america, as is the UK Civic it is a hatchback version. In Canada we have a Lower end Acura model that is called the CSX that is based exactly off of the Civic. The Acura CSX in Canada is equivalent to the Civic models in Asia.
Here is a picture of a japanese civic, however it has been tuned with Mugen parts, but the main panels, and lights are the same. It is different in appearance than the american Civics.
http://www.carview.co.jp/tas/2006/just/mugen_c_civic_dominator/images/01_l.jpg
10/14, 9:08 PM
posted by:
Mech0T1
Inspire : Umm, no, Honda will not be exporting cars from Indiana to Japan. When Honda opens a new facility in a particular market, the cars are almost always intended to be sold in that market (”Build where you sell” philosophy). The Civic is produced at Suzuka plant in Japan, and they have plenty of ability to meet JDM sales demands. Also, Indiana is not planning on building right-hand-drive Civics, which is kinda important when you try to sell a car in Japan (ask Cadillac about that). And, East Liberty Plant is ramping down its Civic production very soon, so Indiana will take over that production as well. There are no concerns for overcapacity of Civics (Pilots on the other hand…)
And, though it’s probably obvious, with Fit sales the way they are, they’ll eventually have to be made somewhere in North America. The profit margin on a car that cheap is so small it’s gotta be crazy expensive to send them over from Japan on boats.
And the Civic was NOT the original creation of Acura Canada (lol). The CSX is wholly derived from the Civic, not vise versa. American Honda generally dictates design/styling requirements for cars that are sold in their market. Acura Canada is like a small cubicle in Honda Canada’s offices.
10/16, 6:58 PM
posted by:
Vinny_P
I know that the car was not created by Acura Canada. I use to work for Honda of Canada, I was simply trying to parallel the design of the Acura CSX to the Honda Civic in Japan is all.