Honda Assembly USA : 1982-2005

To answer the question no one was asking, Honda currently has four plants in the US. As things progressed, the 500,000 production figure was passed in 1995 - which was comprised of 390,000 Accord models and 160,000 Civics. 1 million was reached in 2007, made up of six Honda and two Acura models. In 2015, they made 1.27 million Honda and Acura cars with 16% of them being from the Acura range. How did it get to that point of success?

It started in Marysville, Ohio  in late 1982, when the first Honda Accords came down the assembly line. In 1986, the Civic model joined it and in 1998 the Acura TL was introduced to the Marysville plant as a second model. The Civic had moved to East Liberty by 1991 but in the year 2000, it took over the Acura CL production from East Liberty. It therefore became the exclusive US Acura plant for over a decade.

In 1990, a second plant was up and running, also in Ohio in East Liberty. It took over the Civic assembly from Marysville. By 1995 the first Acura car made in the US, the CL (midsized coupé) model came from this plant. It lost the Acura CL in 2000 but in 2002 it started making the unusual Honda Element compact SUV.

In 2002, the third US plant in Lincoln, Alabama was assigned the Odyssey minivan and in 2004 the Pilot crossover.

The figures below are in thousands. Please add three zeros.

Pl	Marysville				East Liberty				Lincoln			Total
Br	Honda		Acura		Honda			Acu	Honda			Production
Yr	Acc	Civ	TL	CL	Civ	Acc	Ele	CL	Ody	Pil		Hon	Acu	Com
82	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		1	-	1
83	55	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		55	-	55
84	139	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		139	-	139
85	145	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		145	-	145
86	213	24	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		238	-	238
87	236	88	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		324	-	324
88	256	110	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		366	-	366
89	233	129	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		362	-	362
90	334	49	-	-	52	-	-	-	-	-		435	-	435
91	357	-	-	-	85	9	-	-	-	-		451	-	451
92	342	-	-	-	102	14	-	-	-	-		458	-	458
93	283	-	-	-	121	-	-	-	-	-		404	-	404
94	361	-	-	-	138	-	-	-	-	-		499	-	499
95	394	-	-	-	159	-	-	-	-	-		553	-	553
96	424	-	-	-	187	-	-	23	-	-		611	23	634
97	416	-	-	-	201	-	-	31	-	-		617	31	648
98	425	-	31	-	208	-	-	30	-	-		633	62	695
99	369	-	79	-	222	-	-	16	-	-		591	95	686
00	336	-	84	31	226	-	-	-	-	-		562	115	677
01	363	-	78	15	236	-	-	-	2	-		601	93	695
02	336	-	72	14	219	-	3	-	108	-		666	86	752
03	381	-	60	4	148	-	84	-	168	-		781	65	845
04	350	-	83	-	134	-	57	-	152	28		721	83	803
05	354	-	89	-	134	5	66	-	205	88		851	89	940

Data source: Honda.

Renault Production In Russia By Model : 2014/15

Things are pretty gloomy in dealer showrooms in Russia. Customers were flocking in not long ago, but they have reduced to a trickle. Renault has not been immune but production has held up remarkably well. I take it that there has been a shift to locally made from imported cars as the currency tumbled in value.

On the face of it, 2015 was an annus horribilis on the production front for Renault. We can see on the chart below volume imploding to less than half 2014, which it also was down 21% from 2013. Russia's share of car production at Renault's European plants dropped from 8.5% to just 3.7%.

	14	15	Model	2015	%	+/-	2014	%	+/-
	1	1	Duster	50,567	2.5%	-45%	92,374	5.1%	4%
	3	2	Logan	7,678	0.4%	-64%	21,522	1.2%	-59%
	4	3	Fluence	1,257	0.1%	-84%	7,733	0.4%	14%
	5	4	Mégane	749	0.0%	-84%	4,671	0.3%	690%
	2	-	Sandero				27,220	1.5%	-42%
			Total	73,620	3.7%	-52%	153,250	8.5%	-21%

However, for whatever reason some production was moved to a Lada plant. When the two are combined, volume was down just under 9%. That is much better than the sales drop in the country of about 36%.

	14	15	Model	2015	%	+/-	2014	%	+/-
	-	1	Logan	33,742		n/a
	-	2	Sandero	32,568		n/a
			Total	66,310

So for now Renault is doing quite well in Russia, thanks to it's assembly operations helping overcome the negative currency swing and also to Dacia. It's models may be sold under the Renault logo, but those models have been popular.

Data source: Renault Group.