Honda Motor Co.’s reputation for world-class manufacturing may belie a slipping emphasis on design just as the automaker’s U.S. factories—including its expanding Civic plant in Indiana—are preparing to return to full production.
Auto parts supplier One Solution Logistics of Indiana Inc. will expand its operations in Greensburg, creating as many as 191 jobs as the Honda Motor Co. plant there adds a second shift, state economic development officials announced Friday.
Honda's North American factories will return to near-normal production at most plants in August, the company said Thursday. However, full production of the Honda Civic, which is built at plants in Indiana and Ontario, might not resume until the end of the year.
Honda Motor Co. warned U.S. dealers Monday that it will run short of popular models such as the Civic compact later this summer because of parts shortages caused by Japan's earthquake.
In the weeks ahead, car buyers will have difficulty finding the model they want in certain colors, thousands of auto plant workers will likely be told to stay home, and companies such as Toyota, Honda and others will lose billions of dollars in revenue.
Indiana could be on the front line in the United Auto Workers’ campaign to unionize foreign-owned plants.
Honda unveiled the concept design for its 2012 Civic at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit last week.
Beyond the expected plunge for troubled Toyota, U.S. car sales sailed along nicely in January, including a 24 percent surge
for Ford and 14 percent gain for GM.
The Honda plant in southern Indiana that started production last year is now building cars for export from the United States.
Hoping to spur alternative vehicles, lawmakers want to double the size of tax breaks on cars that run on natural gas. That
could be good news for Indiana, where Honda Motor Corp. produces the natural-gas-powered Civic GX in Greensburg.
Jobs created by the new manufacturing plant have been offset by losses elsewhere in the community, and related development
remains scarce. But local officials remain optimistic about Honda’s long-term impact.
The Indy Racing League is considering delaying adoption of its new engine formula by a year—to 2012—so teams
can afford to make the switch.
Fueled by its line of gas-sipping economy cars, Honda is expanding in Indiana as car manufacturers almost everywhere else
are shrinking. And the 2,000 jobs the Japanese automaker is promising in Greensburg by 2010 could be just the beginning.
Indiana’s automotive manufacturing employment for the last decade peaked at 142,000 in 1999. Since then, the sector has shed
20,300 jobs-a staggering one-seventh of its total. Another 5,220 are slated to be cut soon. And there’s no end in sight.
