MARYSVILLE, OHIO — American Honda Motor Co. plans to invest $3 billion to build a new vehicle assembly plant in Marysville, a suburb of Columbus.
The automaker said in a statement that construction of the new facility, which will be located near its existing East Liberty Auto Plant and Marysville Auto Plant, is anticipated to begin in January 2027. Honda expects the production facility to be fully operational by 2029 and to ultimately employ more than 2,000 people.
“By expanding our comprehensive R&D [research and development] and manufacturing capabilities, we will be better positioned to serve our customers and contribute to the economic vitality of the communities where we operate,” says Bob Nelson, executive vice president of American Honda Motor Co., the Japanese automaker’s American U.S. affiliate.
The new facility will have the capacity to produce approximately 240,000 vehicles annually, including traditional vehicles with internal combustion engines, all-electric vehicles and hybrid models.
The plant is also anticipated to increase Honda’s light-duty vehicle capacity to 1.3 million units annually in the United States. The company currently has 12 manufacturing plants in the country, eight of which produce engines or light-duty vehicles for the auto industry.
The new Ohio plant and projects underway at existing Honda facilities will create an “integrated manufacturing network” for future hybrid and gasoline-powered vehicles, connecting vehicle assembly with expanded engine and hybrid system production.
Alongside investments in Ohio, Honda also plans to expand production at its manufacturing facilities in Alabama and Georgia, which also make hybrid-electric vehicles, engines and hybrid systems. These projects will increase Honda’s U.S. auto production capacity to approximately 1.3 million vehicles a year and North American vehicle capacity to approximately 1.9 million.
Honda’s newest plant marks the company’s first new U.S. mass-production vehicle assembly facility since opening its Indiana plant in 2008. Since then, the automaker has also opened a $70 million performance vehicle facility in 2017 and, earlier this year, a multibillion-dollar joint venture battery plant, both in Ohio.
Cumulatively, Honda has invested more than $28 billion in its North American manufacturing operations, including over $3.1 billion in the past five years alone. The company also works with more than 750 original equipment suppliers across the region and has purchased roughly $631 billion in parts from North American suppliers since it started auto production in the U.S. in 1982.
— Abby Cox