Honda Will Become "Net Exporter" from North America in Two Years --Kind of puts a new perspective on "American Made", doesn't it? JR Topics

Honda has built its one millionth vehicle for export from the United States and will be a net exporter from North America in the next two years. How's that for "Made in America?"

Honda has been building vehicles in the U.S. for a very long time - just over 30 years - and with the company's twenty-fifth anniversary building cars in America to ship overseas comes another milestone: their one millionth export from the States. The silver 2013 Honda Accord EX-L Sedan seen here rolling off the line in Marysville, Ohio, will be shipped to South Korea and is the millionth vehicle to leave our shores bearing the Honda emblem.

Honda to export more American-built vehicles than it imports from Japan by 2014

BY JEFFREY N. ROSS and   Aaron Turpen 

 

A silver Honda Accord sedan is rarely a vehicle worth getting too excited over, but we're sure the folks at Honda's Marysville, Ohio assembly plant would beg to differ. This week, a silver 2013 Accord EX-L sedan earmarked for South Korea rolled off the line, making it the one-millionth vehicle Honda has exported from the US over the last 25 years. More importantly, Honda also announced that by 2014, it plans to export more cars from the US than it imports from Japan.

Starting with the very first Honda exported to Taiwan from Ohio in 1987, the automaker has exported more than $22-billion worth of vehicles and vehicle parts, with 1994 standing as a record year in which 105,511 vehicles were shipped out. This year, Honda and Acura have 11 models that are exported out of the US accounting for almost 100,000 units shipped to more than 40 countries. With a goal of increasing production capacity from 1.63 million units up to 1.92 million units by 2014, Honda expects to "far surpass" its 1994 export record.

Honda Builds 1 Millionth Automobile for Export From U.S.

-Honda Will Become "Net Exporter" from North America in Two Years --

-Marysville, Ohio Auto Plant Began Building Vehicles for Export 25 Years Ago --

Twenty-five years after the first U.S.-made Honda automobile was exported to overseas markets, associates at the company's Marysville Auto Plant today marked production of the 1 millionth Honda automobile to be exported from the U.S. The silver 2013 Honda Accord EX-L Sedan will be shipped to South Korea.

What's more, Honda says that within the next two years, they will be exporting more cars from the U.S. than they're importing from Japan, which will make them the first non-Detroit company of size to do so. Honda has been increasing capacities at it's U.S.-based plants to take on more of the company's global production for several years and for many strategic reasons.

When Honda began exporting back in 1987, the vehicles being sent were just a handful compared to what was being built in Japan, but were, ironically, mostly exported from the U.S. to Japan and Taiwan. Since then, the number of production plants, local parts sources, and American jobs have increased as the company expanded. Since it began exporting in 1987, the company has sent more than $22 billion worth of automobiles and components out of the U.S. to other countries. In fact, many of Honda's cars that are assembled or manufactured in overseas locations now use parts sourced from U.S.-based suppliers.

The Accord EX-L shown here will leave Ohio and travel across the Eastern U.S. to Port Hueneme in South Carolina, where it will get on a boat and cross the ocean to Seoul, South Korea to wind up in a dealership for sale to a lucky Korean buyer. Honda currently exports U.S.-made vehicles to more than 40 countries, not including Canada, with exports this year to reach nearly 100,000 total vehicles this year alone.

Honda exports from seven U.S. ports, located in California, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, and New Jersey. Honda has also exported more than 500,000 powersports units (ATVs, motorcycles, etc) from their Timmonsville, South Carolina plant to other countries since it began doing so in 1980. Power equipment such as lawnmowers, small engines, etc. from Honda's U.S. operations surpassed the 2 million unit mark this year since they began exporting from Swepsonville, North Carolina in 1984.

Kind of puts a new perspective on "American Made", doesn't it?