Honda Civic To Be Developed in Ohio?
Honda will shift development of the next-generation Civic to the U.S. reports by The Nikkei [sub] and Reuters say. Reuters has a quote from Honda spokesman Satoshi Takami, who said: “Localizing Civic development in the United States is among various factors we are considering. Generally speaking, Honda wants to develop cars locally where we sell them.” The Nikkei said that the Accord may also be developed in the U.S.
North America accounts for half of total Civic sales. The 2012 Civic, was panned by critics. A facelifted 2013 Civic will be shown on Thursday at the Los Angeles Auto Show.
According to Reuters, Honda is considering developing the next generation Civic at its R&D center in Ohio, rather than at home in Tochigi,
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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This move may point to a couple of interesting things: 1) Engineering cost in the US may be lower than in Japan. 2) Confirms that US automotive engineering is state of the art (nothing strange there) 3) They want to use for their benefit the extensive auto industry network available over there. Considering that the Euro Civic is different than the US ones, it is consistent with what the Honda bloke said.
Not sure why not California instead of Ohio (cheaper?), but it makes some sense to localize cars on global platforms, if that's what they're doing. Car companies do this a lot, and even Honda has had bigger Accords in the US (and other select markets) than elsewhere for a while. We also get the Euro/Japanese Accord as the Acura TSX. It worked for VW to engineer larger and cheaper cars here, so it probably makes sense for others too. I guess it only hurts those who like sportier cars...
Is corporate finally listening to me/us? :)
A rather strange bunch of comments here. Honda's engine plant at Anna, Ohio, 40 miles from the plant at Marysville is the world's largest engine plant. It manufactures the new DREAM engines. The Russell's Point transmission plant makes the transmissions. Much of Honda output has been from Ohio for years. Yes, I live in Ohio, not in California, land of lunatics.