Honda, a company that has already invested $8 billion in Ohio, said Monday it will expand operations here again with a new plant that will produce a sports car.
The Acura NSX, which Honda expects to bring to the market in three years, will be built at a facility in central Ohio, said Ron Lietzke, a spokesman for Honda of America Manufacturing. The company has not received any state tax credits or support for the new facility, or for about $400 million the company has already invested since 2010 to upgrade its facilities statewide.
Honda did not disclose the exact location of the new plant or the number of jobs it will generate. However, a new advanced manufacturing operation will be used to produce the car, Lietzke said.
?Whenever you add a new facility to build a new product like this, you?re going to be adding some new employment,? Lietzke said.
The announcement was made during the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
Honda employs more than 13,500 Ohioans and has invested more than $8 billion in the state. The company employs more than 1,400 from Clark and Champaign counties and about 1,300 from the Dayton area, Lietzke said. Its Marysville plant produces the Honda Accord, Accord Coupe, Acura TL and Acura RDX.
Leitzke said the decision will not specifically impact operations at Honda?s Marysville Plant, but said further announcements may be made later this week that could involve that factory.
Honda?s research center, in Raymond in Union County, has been responsible for much of the research and development of the sports car, and Lietzke said it makes sense to build it in Ohio.
?Our facilities here are very much capable of getting the vehicle ready for production and producing it,? he said.
Locally, officials said they were surprised by the announcement.
Mike McDorman, president and CEO of the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce, said a new operation would be a boon to the state. He said he was surprised because Honda recently built a facility in Indiana and already has a significant presence in central Ohio.
?It would be great to have more,? McDorman said.
Marcia Bailey, economic development coordinator for Urbana, also said she was pleasantly surprised by the announcement. She said any investment in the state is good news.
?It?s going to have a huge economic impact on our area,? Bailey said.
Last fall, Honda announced it was renewing a second shift on one of its production lines at the Marysville plant, resulting in about 100 jobs.
Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0355.
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