Honda will spend 25 billion yen ($211 million) to create the mentioned engine plant. The latter is intended to be built in Saitama prefecture (north of Tokyo). Production of Honda vehicles in said plant will start in mid-2009. Its annual capacity is 200,000 units.



The automaker, famed for its reliable auto parts Honda, has established a reputable name in the manufacture of robots, motorbikes, light aircraft, and cars. The assembly of Honda Civic car parts and those of other cars and minivans are meticulously supervised to secure overall quality. Civic compact and Odyssey minivan are expected to produce a 3 percent increase (about 1.51 million vehicles) this year. The sales will mark a good record for 10 continuous years.

In the United States, the sales record of sport utility vehicles and light trucks is on the rise. This is reflected in the sales of Honda CR-V. In this regard, Honda experienced an overseas increase making it land on Japan's No.3 automaker. The data was divulged by Takeo Fukui, Honda's president. Fukui added, "To meet demand Honda's Mexico plant would begin making CR-Vs in late 2007. CR-V was loosely derived from Civic. Honda CR-V parts are engineered to satisfy the cravings of sport utility fanatics. The 2007 redesigned version of CR-V will be sharing platform with Acura RDX.

"Overseas sales are booming across the board, but conditions in the home market have been difficult," Fukui said. "We hope to strengthen our product offerings and revitalize the flagging market."

Auto business is expected to be brisk and sales are expected to be up next year. But for Honda and other auto giants, brisk sales have started. In fact, this year in Europe Honda made an 8 percent increase (about 310,000 units). It is expected to rise by 13 percent to 350,000 next year.