Honda VTX 1300 / VTX 1800 Motorcycles Forum banner

Honda to stop production at Marysville, Ohio plant

6K views 11 replies 10 participants last post by  Bassdude404 
#1 ·

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.

[SIZE=-1]All contents of this site © American City Business Journals Inc. All rights reserved.[/SIZE]
 
See less See more
3
#6 ·
I could see this coming. When I see 2005 and 2006, new old stock VTX cruisers for sale in the local Honda shop and don't see any 2007 or 2008 models I have to wonder how sales are going. Part of this has to have something to do with Honda's reluctance to upgrade their models. I love my 2003 VTX 1800R but I don't see many improvements that have been made since then. The only recent change I am aware of is the addition of a coolant resevoir on the side between the cylinders. Then this year they decide to make only the 1800T model. I could go into detail about the changes they could have made (like better turn signal indicator, better seats, better tires, more options on color and better instrumentation) but members of this board have already done that many times over. Then of course they have not introduced any new models. Last year they dropped the 1100 series but did not replace it with anything. My local Honda dealer has branched out into Yamaha. The other day I went there for something and the sales people were wearing shirts with "Yamaha" on them. They now have many more Yamahas on the floor than Hondas. Honda could have made a bigger sales pitch based on being made in USA than they did. Even some Honda owners that I know did not realize that their bike was made here. How much do you want to bet that the made in Japan bikes will cost more not less? Well I shouldn't complain. My first two Hondas were made in Japan and I enjoyed them just as much. Hopefully they keep their word and don't lay anybody off.
 
#8 ·
Momentous old thread..dredged up by me.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top