Honda: No announcement made regarding Indiana plant, despite reports and Trump nod
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Japanese automaker Honda has made no announcements regarding planned investment in or construction of manufacturing facilities in Indiana, according to a company spokesperson, despite reports and comments made by President Donald Trump this week.
In a wide-ranging address before a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, Trump said his administration’s policies—including recently enacted 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada—would “allow our auto industry to absolutely boom.”
“Already, numerous car companies have announced that they will be building massive automobile plants in America,” Trump said, “with Honda just announcing a new plant in Indiana—one of the largest anywhere in the world.”
A Honda spokesperson told IBJ in a written statement Wednesday that the company appreciated the nod, but no announcement had been made: “While Honda did not announce plans for a new plant in the U.S. at this time, we have invested over $3 billion in advanced vehicle manufacturing in America in just the past three years, with a cumulative total of more than $24.7 billion.”
The president may have been referencing a Monday report by Reuters that said the automaker was planning to move production of its next-generation Civic hybrid to Indiana, instead of Guanajuato, Mexico. Production on the vehicles—an anticipated 210,000 a year—would begin at the Indiana Auto Plant in Greensburg in 2028.
According to the report, the company’s decision was a response to the then-impending tariffs, which went into effect Tuesday. In 2023, the U.S. imported $78 billion in auto parts from Mexico and $20 billion from Canada.
On Wednesday, amid concerns a trade war would harm the country’s manufacturers, the president announced a one-month exemption for U.S. automakers.
Honda had previously declined to comment on the specifics of the Reuters report, saying Civics have been manufactured in Indiana since the plant opened in 2008: “We have the flexibility to produce products in each region based on customer needs and market conditions.”
The 1.3 million-square-foot Indiana Auto Plant employs 2,700 workers. Honda makes its Civic Hatchback, CR-V and Insight Hybrid there.
Last month, Honda reported a 7% decline in profit for the nine months ending in December, but sales gains of 9% over the same period, with demand remaining solid in the U.S. The company had been in talks with competitors Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. to create a joint holding company, but those negotiations ended early this year.