Honda will build a new $3 billion auto plant in central Ohio between its Marysville and East Liberty plants, creating more than 2,000 new jobs and adding capacity for 240,000 vehicles a year, the company announced Monday, Nov. 9, in a joint announcement with Gov. Mike DeWine, JobsOhio, One Columbus and Union County reported through Globe Newswire.
The new plant will be Honda’s fourth auto plant in Ohio and, according to the announcement, will have the flexibility to produce multiple vehicle types and powertrains, including hybrid, gasoline-powered and battery-electric vehicles. Production is expected to begin in 2029, pending final government approvals, and the company says the site will use leading-edge automation and data-driven production systems.
Reuters reported Monday that Honda Motor said the plant will build hybrid vehicles and create 2,000 jobs, with annual capacity of 240,000 vehicles. The Columbus Dispatch, in its Nov. 9 reporting, likewise reported the $3 billion investment, the location between the East Liberty and Marysville plants and the company’s expectation that the plant will come online in 2029.
“Honda’s leadership could have chosen to build this plant anywhere in the world, but they chose Ohio because there are so many advantages to being here,” Gov. Mike DeWine said in the announcement released through Globe Newswire. “For almost half a century, Honda and Ohio have grown together, and generations of families have built their careers on Honda’s manufacturing lines. Today’s announcement isn’t just an investment in a new facility — it’s an investment in Ohio’s people and Ohio’s future,” DeWine said in that announcement.
The plant is part of a larger Ohio commitment. Including investments at the Anna Engine Plant and at Honda Transmission Plant-Ohio, Honda put its total new Ohio commitment at 2,390 new jobs and $3.38 billion in new investment, according to the Globe Newswire announcement. Honda also announced a retooling of its transmission plant in Russells Point to support two next-generation hybrid systems, which the company said will increase Ohio’s hybrid system production capacity by 250 percent in the coming years.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on
What we know is the scale, the location and the timeline the company has stated publicly: about $3 billion for the new plant itself, more than 2,000 jobs at that plant, 240,000 vehicles a year of capacity, and a 2029 production start pending approvals. The project was approved for a tax credit on the morning of Nov. 9 by the Ohio Tax Credit Authority, according to the announcement, and Honda also plans to pursue JobsOhio assistance that will be made public after a final agreement is executed. What we are still waiting on is that final JobsOhio agreement, the full list of government approvals still required before construction can start, and Honda’s own hiring timeline for the new plant.
The Dispatch reported that an earlier Environmental Protection Agency filing it reviewed, submitted Oct. 7 and code-named “Project Sunrise,” pointed to construction that could begin in January 2027 and conclude by December 2029, and to a workforce of about 3,000 in that filing. Honda’s public announcement on Nov. 9 used the more specific figures of more than 2,000 jobs at the new plant and 2,390 jobs in the total Ohio commitment, and those announced figures are the ones state and company officials used Monday.
Honda’s history in Ohio reaches back nearly 50 years. The announcement noted Honda announced its first Ohio plant in 1977, began building motorcycles in Marysville in 1979 and, in 1982, built the first Japanese-brand car made in the United States at the Marysville Auto Plant. Ohio operations have since grown to more than 15,000 associates and more than $15 billion in investment, according to the announcement, including the Marysville and East Liberty auto plants, the Anna engine plant and the L-H Battery joint venture in Fayette County.
The announcement also marks a turn the Dispatch has tracked through this year: Honda in March scrapped plans to make three electric vehicles in Ohio, the Dispatch reported, but in May announced plans to produce more hybrid and conventional-engine vehicles in North America, including in Ohio. The new plant’s stated flexibility across hybrid, gasoline and battery-electric powertrains is the company’s public answer to that shift, with hybrid production at the center of the Russells Point retooling.
“Ohio and its workforce have laid the groundwork that has written some of the most impactful chapters in Honda’s story of growth and innovation,” Bob Nelson, executive vice president of American Honda Motor Co., said in the Globe Newswire announcement. “This investment reflects our commitment to building products close to our customers, and our confidence in the people, partners and communities of Ohio,” Nelson said in that announcement.
JobsOhio President and CEO J.P. Nauseef, in the same announcement, called the project Honda’s first greenfield auto assembly facility of this scale in Ohio in more than 35 years.
For Union County and the wider Columbus region, the next concrete steps are the final government approvals Honda cited, execution of the JobsOhio agreement, and the start of construction. Readers following central Ohio growth can also read our earlier coverage of the $5.5 million Thornwood Drive rebuild in Newark and of Heart of Ohio Family Health’s leadership change in Columbus. NewsForce247 will update this story when the JobsOhio agreement and construction timeline are made public.