Honda opened and dedicated its first factory in Indiana recently and the ceremony was a testament to the economic struggles and the idea of renewing business ventures during this trying times. Honda President and Chief Executive Takeo Fukui told a crowd of onlookers that the plant was being opened in challenging times and that the factory represents the resolve of Honda as a car company.
“We face a difficult economy, but at Honda we have always understood that challenging times represent opportunity,” Fukui said.
Honda is hoping to use the Indiana factory to turn out lots of Honda Civic sedans for the fuel-efficient car buyers of North America. The company plans to make 200,000 gasoline powered Civics a year by operating two shifts at the factory. Honda also said it would shift production of a compressed natural gas version of the Civic to Greensburg by around the middle of 2009 from a plant in East Liberty, Ohio.
The opening and plant dedication serve as reminders of Honda’s continued presence in the automotive field. The car company is looking to continue to expand while others might be pulling away, enabling consumers to get good deals on Honda vehicles and keeping Honda dealerships in business for as long as possible. With other companies thinking about bankruptcy or bailouts, Honda is looking to dealerships like the Doylestown Honda dealer to make moves to keep things going strong.