Honda Motor Co. plans to expand its assembly plant in Sayama, Saitama Prefecture, in the next fiscal year to shift engine production from its Wako plant located in the same prefecture, Honda officials said Friday.
Engine production at the Wako plant, which currently has an annual capacity of 500,000 units, will be discontinued in fiscal 2002.
At present, about 1,600 people are employed at the Wako plant and at least 700 will be transferred to the Sayama plant, the officials said.
Where the rest of the workers will be moved to has yet to be decided, they added.
As a result, the Sayama plant's range of production will be from engine production to the assembly of passenger cars.
Currently all engines produced at the Wako facility are sent to the Sayama plant for assembly. The integration will streamline operations, a Honda spokesman said.
Honda plans to build two new engine lines in the Sayama plant, with the first one to open in the second half of the next fiscal year and the second to open in the first half of fiscal 2002, he said.