Honda to build 2014 Accord Hybrid in Ohio

Honda of America Mfg., Inc. will invest $23 million at its Marysville, Ohio auto plant to add production of the new two-motor Accord Hybrid Sedan (earlier post), scheduled to go on sale nationwide this fall.

This will be the third hybrid model built by Honda in the US and the first in Ohio. Honda Manufacturing of Indiana, LLC in Greensburg, Ind. was the first Honda plant in North America to build a hybrid vehicle, and currently produces both the Civic Hybrid and Acura ILX Hybrid models.

The Marysville Auto Plant is undergoing an expansion of 95,000-square-feet to house assembly processes and logistics specifically for production of the Accord Hybrid. The project includes lengthening the main assembly line to accommodate the unique hybrid production processes, and adding space for related parts receiving and sub-assembly operations. The project also will increase overall efficiency of the plant’s parts logistics operations.

One of four efficient powertrains for the Accord lineup, the new Accord Hybrid Sedan joins the 2014 Accord Plug-in Hybrid Sedan in incorporating Honda’s first two-motor hybrid system. Both the Accord Plug-In and Accord Hybrid team a new Earth Dreams Technology 2.0-liter i-VTEC 4-cylinder Atkinson cycle engine with a 124 kW traction electric motor that can function as an electric continuously variable transmission (e-CVT) and a 105 kW electric motor for power generation.

All of the conventional, gasoline-powered 2013 Accords now on sale in the United States are equipped with a new Earth Dreams Technology powertrain, either a direct-injected 2.4-liter 4-cylinder engine or a 3.5-liter V6 engine equipped with Variable Cylinder Management (VCM). Manufactured at Honda’s automobile engine plant in Anna, Ohio, both of these engines were named to Ward’s 10 Best Engines list for 2013.

In the last three years, Honda has announced investments at its Ohio manufacturing facilities exceeding $800 million. They include projects to establish on-site parts consolidation centers, renovate auto assembly and painting operations, and major investments at the Anna Engine Plant, as well as its transmission plant in Russells Point, to manufacture continuously variable transmissions (CVTs).

Recently, the transmission plant started a second phase of projects to expand CVT production. This new investment of $90 million includes an additional assembly line, and new aluminum die casting and machining operations. Investments at that the transmission plant in recent years now total $235 million.

Honda operates four manufacturing plants in Ohio, including auto plants in Marysville and East Liberty with the capacity to manufacture nearly 700,000 cars and light trucks per year. Its engine plant in Anna supplies engines and components to most of Honda’s auto plants in North America, with production exceeding a million engines per year. The transmission plant in Russells Point manufactures more than one million automatic transmissions per year, including the CVTs, for Honda’s North American auto plants.

In addition to manufacturing, Ohio is the center for vehicle engineering in North America. The R&D center in Raymond, Ohio, is Honda’s largest R&D center outside Japan.