Honda to build auto assembly plant in Indiana
Honda Motor Co. will build a $550 million auto assembly plant near Greensburg, Ind., as part of a $1.18 billion global expansion, company officials said Wednesday, ending a five-state scramble and bringing jobs to a state hit hard by manufacturing losses.
The factory will employ 2,000 workers and eventually produce 200,000 vehicles annually, officials said at a news conference.
The Japanese automaker announced in May that it planned to build its sixth North American plant in the Midwest, but did not say where. Officials from Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin promoted sites in their states.
“We believe that the great state of Indiana has what we need to continue… success: an outstanding community of people, excellent transportation systems and the necessary infrastructure to support industry,” said Koichi Kondo, president of Honda North America.
He said he has been to Indianapolis many times as all drivers in this year’s Indianapolis 500 used Honda engines.
“I’d like to point out that there was not one engine failure in the race,” Kondo said. “Today I am happy to be able to say, ‘Honda and Indiana, start your engines.’”
Indiana state Rep. Cleo Duncan, R-Greensburg, called the announcement “monumental.”
Gov. Mitch Daniels, who returned to Indiana early after a trip to Asia, welcomed Honda officials.
“Honda is going to feel right at home in Indiana, and you are going to love Greensburg and this part of our state,” Daniels said.
The plant will help invigorate the state’s economy, which has lost 98,000 industrial jobs since 2000.
Construction will be completed in 2008. Kondo declined to say which vehicles would be produced, although the cars would be four-cylinder models.
Some community members also welcomed the news.
At Christy’s Cakes and Confections, owner Christy Kinker, 30, displayed a hand-drawn sign in the window that read, “Welcome Honda.”
“We’re just excited about the business,” the Decatur County native said. “We hope it will help the small mom and pop businesses … It seems like as a community we’ve been down in the dumps. I think this will rejuvenate everybody.”
