Honda to build more Civics in New Tec
by Bruce Haire

While auto production will remain at the same level, Honda Canada will build more of its hot selling Civics at the Alliston plant.

Honda will shift output of the Honda Pilot SUV to its Lincoln, Alabama from Plant 2 and produce more Civics utilizing both plant 1 and 2.

Overall production in Alliston is to remain at 390,000 units annually.

The shift will begin in April on the Plant 2 line that has only built minivans, SUVs and the Ridgeline pickup trucks.

The Alabama plant will become the sole North American source for the Pilot and the Odyssey minivan at 300,000 vehicles per year. Alliston Plant 1 will

continue to concentrate on Civic sedans and coupes and the Civic-based Acura CSX.

Honda has been struggling to meet the demand for the new Civic which was redesigned in 2006 and has been named the North American car of the year. Honda sold 7,586 Civics in Canada last month, up 45% from a year earlier.

The Civic has been Canada's best-selling car for eight consecutive years.

Jim Miller, executive vice-president of Honda Canada, said flexible manufacturing techniques enable Honda to build Civics in the same plant as the Ridgeline pickup truck and Acura MDX midsize crossover vehicle.

Honda also builds Civics at its East Liberty plant in Ohio, and in recent months both plants have added overtime to meet demand.

Honda is also building a new 340-employee engine plant in Alliston to build

200,000 four-cylinder engines annually starting in 2008.

Manager of associate services Lisa Timpf says they have worked 12 production Saturdays building Civics in Plant 1. "It's hard for us to keep up with the demand."

She adds that changing Plant 2 to be able to build the smaller framed Civic means "a lot of modifications need to be made" mostly to the conveyer systems.

But in the end it will be good for the manufacturing plant in Alliston. "It gives us a lot of flexibility," she concludes.