Honda’s Engine Plant In Ohio Celebrates 40 Years In Operation

Honda’s largest engine plant in the world is in Ohio, and it’s now been pumping out combustion mills for 40 years. The Anna Engine Plant has built more than 32.5 million engines, covering everything from cars to ATVs and motorbikes. The Honda plant roared to life on July 22, 1985, building engines for motorbikes then added cars a year later with the four-banger for the Honda Civic.

And now, 40 years later it’s still cooking. The plant currently builds a range of V6 and inline four-cylinder engines for cars. That includes the 2.0-liter turbocharged engine for the current Civic Type R, which is then exported to Japan where the hot hatch is assembled.

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A Large, Long-Term Investment

The Anna Engine Plant started off as a 200,000-square-foot facility with 94 employees, but over the years it has evolved and grown with a total of $2.9 billion invested. The location now employs 2,900 people in a variety of roles. Along with engines, the plant produces parts like the high-precision pulleys used in Honda’s continuously variable transmissions (CVT). Those pulleys are then sent to Honda Transmission, also in Ohio.

It looks like the plant will keep increasing its output. With Honda moving into EVs, three new processes have been added to the factory’s capabilities to produce aluminum battery cases: megacasting, friction stir welding (FSW), and minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) machining. When Honda begins its US EV production next year, the castings will supply the Marysville Auto Plant, also in Ohio. In total, Honda has five plants in Ohio, making for a total capital investment of $13 billion.

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A Long History Of US-Based Manufacturing

Honda started its US operations as far back as 1959 with motorbikes. It opened with an investment of $250,000 and just three employees. Honda’s crazy success with motorbikes took a decade to build, and led to the first car being sold here in 1970. The Honda N600 wasn’t a great success, but the follow-up was the Honda Civic in 1973.

The Civic’s breakthrough Compound Vortex Controlled Combustion (CVCC) was so efficient it didn’t need catalytic converters to meet environmental legislation. As well as being one of the greatest engines ever made, the timing coincided with the 1973 oil crisis and America suddenly demanding smaller, much more fuel-efficient cars. And well, you know how the Civic’s story goes from there.

Honda was already producing motorbikes in Marysville, Ohio in 1979, but became the first Japanese automaker to build cars in the US in 1982. A second plant was built to the tune of $300 million to build the Accord, and it was a huge hit. The factory built more than 12.5 million Accord models, but Honda doesn’t just build cars in the US. Honda’s US research and development is responsible for the Honda Pilot, Honda Element, Honda Ridgeline, Acura ZDX, and the second-generation Acura NSX. The most recent version of the Odyssey minivan is also a product of Honda’s US operations.