The mid-size sedan has been assembled in Marysville, Ohio since the plant’s opening in 1982.
The Accord will join the Civic Hatchback and the CR-V on the production line in Indiana.
This is because the Marysville facility will be the automaker’s first to be converted for the production of EVs.
Honda announced it will move the production of the Accord away from the Marysville, Ohio plant which built over 12.5 million units of the mid-size sedan since its opening in November of 1982.
This move will happen in 2025 since this facility will be the automaker’s first in North America to be dedicated to the production of electric vehicles.
To support the production of EVs there, Honda announced a joint venture with LG Energy Solution to build a new $4.4 billion battery factory in nearby Jeffersonville, Ohio.
The upcoming factory, which recently broke ground, is expected to enter service in late 2024 and reach an annual production of 40 GWh.
In addition to this investment, Honda also committed to investing $700 million in three Ohio assembly plants in order to prepare for the arrival of EVs, including Marysville.
Conversion work will start next January at this particular facility by consolidating the two production lines into one, which will allow workers to begin laying out the new EV production line alongside the existing one.
Once work will reach a stage where it will impede the factory’s regular production, the Accord will be moved to the same facility which builds the CR-V and the Civic Hatchback in Indiana.
Other measures Honda is taking to make its EV transition easier are to add e-axle production at its Georgia transmission plant and reduce the output of its Anna, Ohio engine plant to produce more battery cases.
Since the retooled Marysville plant is set to open sometime in 2025 or 2026, it could be ready in time for the introduction of the next electric models in Honda and Acura’s lineup.
Indeed, the first EVs to reach the automaker’s dealerships in North America will be the Honda Prologue and the Acura ZDX, both of which will be manufactured in a General Motors factory in Tennessee.
The vehicles which will be produced in Ohio could include a line of EVs jointly developed with Sony and another line of vehicles developed in-house by Honda.
Source: Automotive News
