Honda Motor Co. President Hiroyuki Yoshino inaugurated the company's newest auto plant in North America on Tuesday with an upbeat message on Honda's stake in a U.S. auto market that has been softened by a slowing economy.
Speaking to reporters after attending the formal launch of Honda's fourth North American auto plant in Lincoln, Ala., Yoshino said sales of new cars in the United States could fall below 16 million units next year, down from the record 17.4 million sold in 2000.
Yoshino said he expects aggressive sales campaigns launched by major U.S. automakers after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to simply induce buyers move up their car purchases without lifting overall sales.
Still, Yoshino was upbeat about Honda's stake in the North American market.
In a speech during the inauguration ceremony, Yoshino said Honda plans to increase the production capacity of Odyssey minivans at the Lincoln plant from a planned 120,000 units a year to 150,000 units.
This will bring the total output of the four Honda plants in the U.S., Mexico and Canada to 1.21 million units a year.
Yoshino said Hoshino will raise the size of investment in the Lincoln plant, which has been in operation since Nov. 14, by $140 million to a total of $580 million.
The projected increase in output at the Lincoln plant would also expand the size of the workforce from a planned 1,500 employees to 2,300.
The Lincoln plant assembles Odyssey minivans powered by 3.5-liter V-6 engines, which are also produced there. The model is marketed in Japan under the Lagreat brand. Honda sells smaller minivans -- with 2.3-liter and 3.0-liter engines -- under the Odyssey name.
Honda has brought forward the launch of the Lincoln plant by six months from the originally scheduled starting time of spring 2002.