Honda manufacturing in the USA. It's not just about money...it's about love.
Text: Yousef Alvi // Photography: Geoff Dennis
If you think about the American Economy and American Manufacturing, the first thing that tends to pop into a person’s mind is the Big 3 Automakers. Ford, GM and FCA (kinda American??) are so intrenched in the psyche of the consumer, that it’s easy to assume everything you see at their dealer lots are in fact made here in the US. Unfortunately that is not the case at all.
Majority of the time, those vehicles are made in either Canada, Mexico or elsewhere. If they are assembled here, their parts are sourced and built elsewhere. So where does that leave American auto manufacturing? Honestly…in the hands of everyone else. It’s a little publicized fact but the Japanese automotive industry has been producing vehicles in the US for the past 40 years!
Do you know who that first Japanese Manufacturer was? It was Honda. All the way back in 1979 when the Marysville Ohio plant was born and from there, the very first American made Japanese vehicle rolled off the assembly line. A four door Honda Accord. The Ohio plant was genesis for Japanese automakers. It proved that American manufacturing along with Japanese investment can work and produce quality. From there, manufacturing in the States exploded. If it’s sitting at a Honda, Toyota, Nissan or Mazda dealer lot…more than likely it is made in the US. It’s not just assembly either, those vehicles are designed, engineered, tested and loved here in America.
In Ohio alone, Honda employs 15,000 people and builds everything from the Accord to the NSX. Honda inject billions of the dollars into the local economy and produces over 400,000 vehicles per year in that plant alone. Being the nexus of manufacturing for the United States, it’s only fitting that the crown jewel is located next right door. The Honda PMC plant.
The PMC (Performance Manufacturing Center) is the where the magic happens. It is home of the new NSX. Being that home, PMC is more akin to a sterile laboratory than a buzzy and rapid assembly line Everything feels sanitized and antiseptic, it truly feels like you are watching a vehicle be born in front of you. Most everything is hand assembled and that assembly process is like watching an artist paint. The pain staking elegance and the sense of love they exude is palpable.
Love is the operative word here. To hand assembly anything is a labor of love. To hand assemble a complex supercar like the NSX you have to have love to guide you, nurture you and lead you.
That is what Honda Motor Company means to me. Love of the automobile, love of this country and love in what they do. Thank you for the opportunity to have us visit you and witness this first hand!
