Honda to increase N. American production

Honda Motor Co. is increasing production capacity in North America and elsewhere to keep up with growing demand for its fuel-efficient cars and to maintain the momentum for global growth, the company’s president said Wednesday.
Annual production in North America will reach 1.62 million vehicles by the fall of 2008 from the current 1.4 million, President Takeo Fukui told reporters. The maker of Accord and Acura cars would also boost production capacity in other parts of the world, he said.

Honda, Japan’s No. 2 automaker behind Toyota Motor Corp., plans to build a second auto plant in Thailand and its first auto plant in Argentina, and it is setting up a research and development center in China to build models especially to appeal to that growing market, Fukui said.

In North America, a new auto plant in Indiana, Honda’s seventh in North America, is set to begin production in late 2008, he said.

Later this year, a plant in Mexico will start making the CR-V sport utility vehicle, raising annual production capacity from 30,000 vehicles to 50,000 vehicles, he said.

Demand has been healthy for Honda’s cars with a reputation for good mileage, such as the Fit subcompact and CR-V, at a time when gas prices are soaring. But competition has also been intensifying among the automakers to cut costs and develop environmentally friendly vehicles. More at Detroit Free Press