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MARYSVILLE, Ohio - Veteran plant managers at Honda of America Manufacturing Inc. occasionally wax nostalgic for the fall of 1979, when Honda built its first product in the United States.
Life was simpler then. A single motorcycle model rolled off an assembly line in a 260,000-square-foot factory here. Two decades later, Honda of America Manufacturing builds 22 different cars, motorcycles or allterrain vehicles, plus engines for all of them, at four plants in Ohio and one in Alliston, Ontario. A sixth factory is under construction in Lincoln, Ala. The Marysville auto plant has grown to 3.3 million square feet, building 130 variations of four cars for export to 65 countries. Marysville is the sole source for two models - the TL sedan and CL coupe - sold worldwide by Honda's Acura luxury division.
It used to be conventional wisdom that Japan's automakers would entrust their North American factories to build the highvolume, easy-to-produce, low-value products. But their high-value-added, high-profit luxury cars, which compete in one of the industry's most-competitive segments? Never.
However, in the past five years, what once was called transplant production has evolved quietly and gradually from lowmargin products such as compact pickups to $50,000-plus sport-utilities.
"We joke around here about going back to the motorcycle days," says Al Traucht, chief engineer for new-model changeover at Honda of America Manufacturing's Marysville auto plant. "We have so many variations now it can make your head spin. But we can build everything, motorcycles to Acuras, with the same consistency and a high level of confidence."
There are critical economic issues behind the evolution of import-brand production in the United States, and the process isn't limited to Honda and Acura. BMW builds its Z3 and X5 in Spartanburg County, S.C. MercedesBenz builds its M class in Vance, Ala. Last month Toyota Motor Corp. said it will move production of its Lexus RX 300 from Japan to...