Wednesday, February 27, 2008 - 11:28 AM EST
Honda to halt U.S. motorcycle production next year
Business First of Columbus - by Matt Burns Business First
Honda of America Manufacturing Inc. on Wednesday said it plans to discontinue motorcycle production at its oldest U.S. plant next year.
The company, an arm of American Honda Motor Co., will stop production in spring 2009 at the 450-employee Marysville Motorcycle Plant, its only North American motorcycle producer. The plant's employees, part of a 13,000-worker base at the company's five production plants in Central Ohio, will be moved to other operations as motorcycle production is shifted to a new plant in Kumamoto, Japan. Motorcycle production at a plant in Hamamatsu, Japan, will also be consolidated at the Kumamoto works.
Executives said Wednesday the company hasn't finalized plans for how it will discontinue operations, indicating a shutdown or phase-out of production hasn't been determined.
The Union County plant last year turned out 44,000 Gold Wing touring and VTX cruiser bikes, and makes about 120 a day on average.
Honda's Marysville and East Liberty factories also assemble the company's flagship Accord, Civic and Acura TL cars, and the Element, CR-V and Acura RDX light sport utility vehicles. Those factories turned out about 701,000 vehicles last year.
The automaker said the move to end motorcycle production at its oldest U.S. plant, opened in 1979, comes with a stronger focus on bolstering its North American auto production operations. The company has invested $11 billion in its North American auto production operations since 1979, including $800 million in Ohio since 2001. Two plants are under construction in Indiana and Canada.
Honda's motorcycle operations buy parts from 38 suppliers in Ohio, 11 of which are motorcycle-related-only businesses. Spokesman Ed Miller said most of the motorcycle-parts-only suppliers do less than 10 percent of business with Honda, but one, a small operation he wouldn't identify, is exclusively devoted to supplying parts to the company.
Of the $18.8 billion Honda spent last year in buying parts in North America, less than 1 percent went to its motorcycles, he said.
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