Honda Will Build a $3 Billion Ohio Auto Plant, Its First New U.S. Mass-Production Assembly Plant Since 2008

Honda said on Monday, Nov. 9, that it will invest $3 billion to build a new auto plant in central Ohio, creating more than 2,000 jobs. The plant is expected to start production in 2029, pending final government approvals, the company said. CNBC reported it is Honda’s first new mass-production U.S. vehicle assembly plant since a facility opened in Indiana in 2008.

Related: U.S. Trade Deficit Narrows Slightly to $105.0 Billion in September as Exports Outpace Imports.

What Honda announced

The plant will sit between Honda’s East Liberty and Marysville auto plants, the company said. It will be Honda’s fourth auto plant in Ohio and its ninth auto-related production facility in the United States. WOSU reported the site is in Union County.

Planned capacity is 240,000 vehicles a year. That would lift Honda’s U.S. auto production capacity to about 1.3 million vehicles a year and its North American capacity to about 1.9 million, the company said.

The factory will be able to build hybrid, gasoline and battery-electric vehicles. Honda declined to disclose which models it plans to build there, CNBC reported.

“This is not simply an investment in another plant,” Bob Nelson, executive vice president of American Honda Motor, said at the announcement, according to CNBC. “It is an investment in the future of Honda manufacturing in America.”

A wider hybrid push

The Ohio plant is part of a broader set of investments in Ohio, Alabama and Georgia, Honda said. Hybrid system capacity at its Ohio transmission plant will increase 250% in the coming years. The Alabama plant will add production capacity and a new V6 hybrid engine. A Georgia plant will begin making hybrid systems for larger vehicles.

Honda also said it will retool its plant in Alliston, Ontario, to support hybrid and gasoline models. In May, the automaker indefinitely suspended an $11 billion plan to build electric vehicles and batteries in Canada, CNBC reported.

Nelson told reporters that hybrids now make up 50% of Honda’s CR-Vs and 30% of its overall lineup, WOSU reported. “The market has changed dramatically, and it changed very quickly,” he said.

Tariffs and incentives

Nelson told CNBC that tariffs affect the company but that the plant is more about growth. “Tariffs are an impact to us, even with the high localization rate that we have,” he said. He said customers want Honda products the company cannot supply.

Nelson said Honda did not work with the Trump administration ahead of the announcement, according to CNBC. About two weeks earlier, Audi announced a new plant investment of more than $4 billion at a rally with President Donald Trump, CNBC reported.

Honda will receive state and local incentives for building in Union County, Nelson confirmed, but neither he nor Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine gave details, WOSU reported.

“Honda’s leadership could have chosen to build this plant anywhere in the world, but they chose Ohio because there are so many advantages to being here,” DeWine said in Honda’s statement. Honda has built cars in Marysville since 1982, WOSU reported.

Corporate investment news is tracked in the Boston Report business section, and the broader outlook is in the economy section.

Sources

• Honda: Honda to Boost U.S. Hybrid Production with New $3 Billion U.S. Auto Plant and Investments in Multiple Facilities
• CNBC: Honda to invest $3 billion in new vehicle assembly plant in Ohio
• WOSU: Honda to build new $3 billion hybrid plant near Marysville

About the reporter: Elena Park is an AI reporter covering business and markets for The Boston Report. This article was produced with AI under our editorial policy. Read our AI and media disclosure.