Honda is a Japanese multinational manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and other power equipment. It was founded in 1946 by Soichiro Honda and Takeo Fujisawa. Honda is the fifth-largest car producer in the world and has a world market share of 4.8%.
But where is Honda made? Where is the biggest Honda manufacturing plant? And how to check where a specific Honda model was produced?
In this article, I am going to answer all these questions and will also tell you about the owner, headquarter, and the number of employees of Honda.
Where is Honda Manufactured?
Honda has automobile manufacturing facilities and assembly plants in 15 countries around the world including Japan, the U.S, Brazil, China, Mexico, India, Pakistan, and others. Honda has a huge network of production facilities and sells its cars in 150 markets globally.
Below is a table that explains the origin countries of popular Honda models and the countries where they are sold.
| MODEL | WHERE IT’S PRODUCED | FOR WHICH MARKET |
| Honda Accord | Sayama, Japan Ohio, U.S Guangzhou, China Ayutthaya, Thailand | Local and Worldwide |
| Honda Pilot | Alabama, U.S | North America and the Middle East |
| Honda CR-V | Wuhan, China Ohio and Indiana, U.S Ontario, Canada Karawang, Indonesia Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, India Ayutthaya, Thailand Sayama and Yorri, Japan Jalisco, Mexico Pingtung, Taiwan | Local and Worldwide |
| Honda Ridgeline | Alabama, U.S | North America |
| Honda Civic | Wuhan, China Indiana, U.S Lahore, Pakistan Ontario, Canada Sao Paulo, Brazil Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, India Prachinburi, Thailand Yorri, Japan Gebze, Turkey | Local and Worldwide |
| Honda Passport | Alabama, U.S | North America |
| Honda HR-V | Guangzhou, China Sao Paulo, Brazil Ayutthaya, Thailand Yorri, Japan Campana, Argentina Celaya, Mexico Pingtung, Taiwan | Local and Worldwide |
| Honda Odyssey | Sayama, Japan Alabama, U.S Guangzhou, China | Made in Alabama for North America and Made in Japan & China for International Markets |
| Honda Insight | Indiana, U.S Suzuka, Japan | Local and Worldwide |
Also read: Where is Toyota Manufactured? (The Full List)
What’s the Biggest Honda Manufacturing Plant?
Honda’s biggest vehicle manufacturing plant is located in Suzuka, Japan. It has two production lines and the combined production capacity of the plant is 530,000 units per year.
It was established in 1960 as Honda’s third factory in Japan. At line-1 major production models are N-BOX, Fit, JAZZ, Shuttle, Vezel, and HR-V. Whereas line-2 produces models like N-VAN, N-WGN, N-ONE, and N-BOX. Honda’s Suzuka factory also supplies components to dozens of other factories owned by the company.
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The factory also acts as a “Mother Plant” of Honda Motor Company and provides technical support to Honda’s overseas factories. It is the only plant that manufactures the latest seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox which is available in the latest Honda Jazz and City models.
In Which Other Countries is Honda Made?
Other than Japan, Honda cars are manufactured and assembled in fourteen countries. The list includes the U.S, Canada, China, India, Pakistan, Brazil, Indonesia, Thailand, Turkey, Argentina, Mexico, Taiwan, and the Philippines.
In the U.S alone, Honda has 12 manufacturing facilities in the states of Ohio, Alabama, Indiana, South Carolina, and North Carolina. Honda’s U.S plants produced more than five million vehicles in the year 2021. Honda has also exported 1.37 million vehicles from the U.S since 1987.
In Asia, it has manufacturing plants in all the major markets like China, Japan, India, Pakistan, and Indonesia. The newest plant in Thailand was opened in the year 2016. Turkey is the only country in the whole of Europe that still manufactures Honda cars.
Honda had assembly plants in the United Kingdom, South Africa, and New Zealand but all were closed due to various technical and financial reasons. The Swindon plant of the United Kingdom was closed on July 30th, 2021. Previously, it used to produce Honda Civic, Accord, CR-V, and Jazz.
How to Check Where a Specific Honda was Produced?
You can check where your car was produced by looking at the vehicle identification number (VIN) or by seeing the manufacturer’s plate. The first character of the VIN will tell you about the country where the car was manufactured.
1, 4, or 5 at the beginning of the VIN means that the vehicle was made in the U.S. If it is J at the start of the VIN then it means the vehicle was built in Japan.
Below is a table with the list of major characters and their corresponding countries.
| First Character of VIN | Name of The Country Your Toyota was Produced in |
| 1,4, or 5 | U.S |
| 2 | Canada |
| 3 | Mexico |
| 8 or 9 | South America |
| J | Japan |
| L | China |
| MA-ME | India |
| MF-MK | Indonesia |
| ML-MR | Thailand |
| NL-NR | Turkey |
There is also a sticker placed in between the door and doorjamb by the manufacturer. It contains a lot of useful information like the country of origin, production date, gross vehicle weight rating, and trim code.
Also read: Are Cars Made in China? Which Ones?
Is Honda from Different Manufacturing Plants Different Quality?
Manufacturing facilities of Honda all across the world use the same design, parts, and manufacturing processes. Although performance-wise Honda cars same irrespective of the origin but it is a general perception that cars build in Japan have a slightly better quality than the cars build in any other country.
This is true to some extent and the main reason behind this slight difference is the work ethic, discipline, and dedication of the Japanese workforce. They are famous for their eye for detail, dedication, and unquestioned obedience. They take pride in their work and always strive for perfection.
Another reason can be the quality of parts supplied to the manufacturing plants. American or Asian parts suppliers are not as good as Japanese suppliers and have supply chain issues.
But this notion is fading nowadays because of the large-scale automation in the automobile industry. Also, Honda is making every effort to make the same quality vehicles in all of its manufacturing plants, regardless of their location.
Where are Hondas Designed?
Honda has design and R&D centers all across the world and also develops designs with its partner companies. In total it has 15 design studios in nine countries and each one is responsible for specific activities.
Honda has four design studios in Japan, two in the U.S, China, and Thailand each, and one each in Brazil, Germany, Italy, India, and Indonesia. Most of the cars are designed in Japan, especially the latest technology vehicles.
Whereas, cars that are popular in North America like Ridgeline, Odyssey, Pilot, and Passport are designed and developed in the U.S.
Is Honda Planning to Open New Manufacturing Plants or Close Any Existing Ones?
Honda recently closed its Swindon plant in the U.K which was in operation since 1985. Honda is also planning to build a dedicated electric vehicle (EV) plant in China.
Honda has announced to halt some of its production facilities due to the ongoing lockdown restrictions, issues of the supply chain, and the global shortage of chips. But they will be back to production as soon as the situation gets normal.
Honda has a joint venture in China with the Dongfeng Motor Company. It was announced on 5th January 2022 that this JV will build a new dedicated electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing facility in China.
The factory will be built in the Wuhan Economic Development Zone on size of 630,000 square meters. It will have an annual production capacity of 120,000 vehicles and the total capital investment would be around 948 million dollars.
Also read: Where are Mazdas Made? (The Full List)
How Many People Does Honda Hire?
For the year 2021, Honda had 211,374 direct employees all across the world. The total number of employees in 2021 fell by 3.5% because in 2020 there was a total of 218,674 people employed by Honda.
It has more than 30,000 direct employees in the U.S and its combined payroll for the year 2020 was a whopping 2.2 billion dollars. Honda has also created hundreds of thousands of in-direct jobs through dealerships and suppliers.
How Many Cars Does Honda Make a Year?
Honda produced 4.5 million vehicles during the fiscal year 2021. This number was 4.7 million in the year 2020 and for the year 2022 Honda has planned to produce around 4.3 million cars.
The North American market accounts for 32% of the total sales and the other main markets are Japan, China, India, Indonesia, and Pakistan. Honda sold only 101,000 vehicles in Europe during the fiscal year 2021.
Where is Honda Headquarters?
Honda’s headquarter is in Minato City, Tokyo, Japan. It was established in the year 1948 and for seven decades it has been serving as the headquarters of Honda Motor Company.
Who is Honda Owned by?
Honda is basically a public multinational company and is not owned by a single person. Dodge & Cox, Fisher Asset Management, and American Century Investment Management are its main stakeholders.
Toshiaki Mikoshiba is the current chairman and Mr. Takahiro Hachigo is the current president & CEO of the company. Honda is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, Tokyo Stock Exchange as well as on other major exchanges of the world like London, Paris, Switzerland, and Kyoto.
Honda has an annual revenue of 137 billion dollars. The company earned 4.1 billion dollars as net income during the fiscal year 2020.
References:
en.wikipedia.org, motorandwheels.com, hondacitychicago.com, hondaoflincoln.com, gateshonda.net, carsdirect.com, honda.co.uk, statista.com, investopedia.com, focus2move.com, global.honda
