By MarketWatch
TOKYO (Nikkei) -- Honda Motor Co. (7267.TO, HMC) is shifting development
of its next-generation Civic and Accord models to the U.S. to speed up
the release of vehicles suited to local tastes, the Nikkei reports in
its Nov. 26 edition.
U.S. subsidiary Honda R&D Americas Inc. is overseeing the next Civic
model due to hit the market around 2016 at a facility in Ohio, the
Nikkei said. U.S. engineers will design the body and interior and select
parts. They are also entrusted with setting up mass-production
facilities.
The U.S. unit will soon start development of the next-generation Accord as well.
Civics and Accords account for one-third of Honda's global sales, or
around 500,000 to 600,000 units apiece annually. Around half of the
vehicles are sold in North America, a market that generates 40% of the
auto maker's consolidated operating profit.
Subsidiary Honda R&D Co.'s facilities in Tochigi Prefecture have
traditionally handled development, with roughly 9,000 specialists
assigned to design new vehicles bound for global markets.
With the domestic market trending toward smaller cars, however, Honda's
best-selling vehicles in Japan are now the Fit subcompact and minicars,
while annual Civic and Accord sales have diminished to several thousand
units.
It therefore makes less sense to develop those vehicles in Japan. Honda
employs roughly 2,000 engineers in North America, including 200 or so
dispatched from Japan. With these specialists having gained expertise in
vehicles sold in the North American market, Honda believes the time is
right to have them oversee development of the sedans.
Honda spends roughly 500 billion yen a year on R&D. From now on,
development of vehicles bound for overseas markets will be scaled back
at the domestic research base, which will focus on next-generation
technology such as a fuel-cell-powered vehicle due out as early as 2015.
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