Honda’s planned $3 billion Ohio factory would add room for 240,000 vehicles a year and more than 2,000 jobs, expanding the Japanese automaker’s U.S. manufacturing footprint.
Honda said Monday the plant is planned for the Marysville area, near its existing Ohio operations. Production is expected to begin in 2029. The facility will be able to make gasoline-powered, hybrid and all-electric vehicles.
The added output is expected to lift Honda’s annual U.S. capacity for light-duty vehicles to 1.3 million, the company said. CNBC reported that Honda has 12 manufacturing facilities in the United States, eight of which make engines or light-duty vehicles. Honda last added a U.S. plant for high-volume vehicle assembly in Indiana in 2008, CNBC reported.
CNBC said tariffs and logistics expenses are squeezing industry profits, with automakers responding in part by localizing production. Honda’s Ohio plan follows the May suspension of a separate Canadian electric vehicle and battery investment valued at $11 billion, as well as the cancellation of three electric models intended for U.S. buyers, CNBC reported. Honda said North American factories supply almost all vehicles it sells in the United States, while U.S. facilities account for more than 60% of those sales.
The tariff backdrop also featured in a warning from Jennifer Thomas, Honda’s senior vice president of Corporate Affairs and Government Relations. On Oct. 27, Thomas said a threatened U.S. tariff increase on Canadian vehicles could harm automakers across North America, Reuters reported in earlier coverage of her tariff warning.
CNBC reported that a 50% tariff could replace the current 25% levy on Canadian vehicles and parts starting Jan. 1, 2027, if the United States and Canada fail to reach a trade deal by the end of 2026. A deal before that deadline could avert the increase, CNBC reported.
