Honda to Cease U.S. Motorcycle Production
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008 at 10:43 am by retrorider
Akio Hamada, CEO of Honda of America, announced this morning that Honda America Manufacturing will cease production of motorcycles at its Marysville, OH plant in 2009. All motorcycle production will be moved to a new facility in Kumamoto, Japan. “This move allows us to improve the competitiveness and appeal of our products,” said Hamada.
The Marysville facility was Honda’s first U.S. production facility and has produced more than 2 million motorcycles and ATV’s since 1979. It is the only facility in the world to produce the Gold Wing and VTX models. The facility employs 600 workers who, according to Hamada, will be reassigned to other area Honda facilities.
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Another sign that Honda is losing market share and that Japan is in economic trouble. As I mentioned in an earlier post (Why I Hate Honda), this reiterates that the industry leader has grown complacent and corporate, and has lost the bold and innovative spirit that led it to world domination. Yeah, they still make great motorcycles, but they’re not better than anyone else at this point in time. And the other, more daring competitors are starting to show signs of a surge! The GoldWing, produced in Ohio, has lost serious market share to Yamaha and BMW and now Kawasaki’s new Concourse continues this trend. It’s no wonder Honda is retreating back to the homeland. They’re running scared.
Rhino