MARYSVILLE, Ohio — Honda Motor is launching the next generation of manufacturing operations in a historically unusual place for the 75-year-old Japanese automaker: Ohio.

Honda is completing more than $1 billion in new investments in the state this year, announcing Wednesday an increase from the $700 million initially announced. The upgrades most notably include the installation of six “giga presses” made famous by Tesla and a new “cell” manufacturing system for the battery casings of its upcoming electric vehicles.

The company’s emerging electric vehicle center in Ohio, including a separate $3.5 billion battery plant, will be the flagship of Honda’s global manufacturing operations. That includes its Marysville vehicle plant, which is capable of producing conventional, hybrid and electric vehicles on the same assembly line, officials said during a daylong tour of the plants.

“The Honda EV Center in Ohio is setting the global standard for people, technology and processes for EV production,” said Mike Fischer, head of Honda’s EV program in North America. “This is the footprint and signature performance we will use as we expand EV production regionally and globally.”

Such major manufacturing changes typically start in Honda’s native Japan before rolling out to plants in the U.S. and elsewhere, according to company officials.

The Ohio investments were initially announced in October 2022 as part of the Biden administration’s push for local manufacturing. They remain important amid President Donald Trump’s threats to raise tariffs on imports such as cars.

In 2024, Honda produced more than 1 million vehicles at five U.S. assembly plants. About 64% of them were sold in the U.S., and the rest were exported. The company has an assembly plant in Mexico.

Once completed, Honda will be able to produce about 220,000 vehicles a year at its Marysville plant, located outside Columbus in central Ohio. The 4 million square foot plant currently produces several Honda and Acura vehicles and is expected to produce the all-electric Acura RSX crossover later this year – Honda’s first electric vehicle.

The Japanese automaker was late to the game in investing in electric vehicles compared to other automakers. It currently sells two all-electric crossovers in the U.S. – the Honda Prologue and Acura ZDX – but those vehicles are built in Mexico by General Motors.

The new Acura crossover will be followed by the Honda 0 SUV and Honda 0 Saloon EV prototypes that debuted last month at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

The aluminum battery packs for the new electric vehicles will be produced at Honda’s engine complex near Anna, Ohio, the company’s largest engine plant in the world, having grown from a small rectangular building in 1985 to more than 2.8 million square feet.

“We are building this large-scale aluminum production technology for all Honda models,” said Tim Stroh, head of the electric vehicle battery box project. “Our goal is to roll this out to other products and other plants around the world.”

To produce battery packs and other electric vehicle parts, and potentially engines in the future, the company is installing six massive 6,000-ton high-pressure die-casting machines that will “supercast” the material, what Tesla calls “hypercasting.” The giant machines are the size of a small house and use tremendous pressure to shape parts. Currently, Honda’s die-casting machines in Ohio have pressures of up to 3,500 tons.

If done correctly, S&P Global Mobility says, Gigacasting could theoretically eliminate the welding of dozens of body parts by casting a single module, significantly reducing unit manufacturing costs.

Once the battery packs are cast, they are shipped from Anna to Marysville and other plants to be installed with battery cells from Honda’s joint venture with LG Energy Solutions and then used in final assembly of electric vehicles.

To assemble cells and battery packs in Marysville, Honda is installing nearly 60 flexible manufacturing “cells,” or areas, for assembling batteries. Unlike traditional assembly lines, where parts are installed while vehicles are moving, the new production process takes place in parallel with the main line in zones so that any potential slowdowns or problems don’t affect the main line.

“This is considered Honda’s second venture,” said Bob Schwyn, senior vice president of development and manufacturing at Honda of America. “We are using this opportunity to reimagine our approach to manufacturing.”

Honda calls its transition to electric vehicles, including fuel cells, its “second venture.” Although electric vehicle adoption in the United States has been slower than expected, the company is sticking with its previously announced goal of having zero environmental impact by 2050 through three key areas of action: carbon neutrality, clean energy and resource recycling.

The goal also includes selling exclusively zero-emission vehicles by 2040. Many other automakers have delayed or canceled such goals in recent years.

The investment of more than $1 billion in the existing Ohio plant also includes several new manufacturing processes and technologies to lower emissions and waste, including the use of a special form of structural aluminum that can be recycled and reused in electric vehicle battery packs.

“We are taking this opportunity to reimagine the way we produce and create new value in the area of ​​environmental responsibility,” Schwinn said. “This includes taking back end-of-life products and then recycling or reusing 100% of the materials, especially the limited materials in electric vehicle batteries, to essentially transform old Honda vehicles into new Honda vehicles.”
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