Honda Cars : Honda developing flagship sedans in U.S. (and Canada): report | 2013 New Honda Car Reviews 0

By MarketWatch 

TOKYO (Nikkei) -- Honda Motor Co. (7267.TO, HMC) is shifting development of its next-generation Civic and Accord models to the U.S. to speed up the release of vehicles suited to local tastes, the Nikkei reports in its Nov. 26 edition. 

U.S. subsidiary Honda R&D Americas Inc. is overseeing the next Civic model due to hit the market around 2016 at a facility in Ohio, the Nikkei said. U.S. engineers will design the body and interior and select parts. They are also entrusted with setting up mass-production facilities. 

The U.S. unit will soon start development of the next-generation Accord as well. 

Civics and Accords account for one-third of Honda's global sales, or around 500,000 to 600,000 units apiece annually. Around half of the vehicles are sold in North America, a market that generates 40% of the auto maker's consolidated operating profit. 

Subsidiary Honda R&D Co.'s facilities in Tochigi Prefecture have traditionally handled development, with roughly 9,000 specialists assigned to design new vehicles bound for global markets. 

With the domestic market trending toward smaller cars, however, Honda's best-selling vehicles in Japan are now the Fit subcompact and minicars, while annual Civic and Accord sales have diminished to several thousand units. 

It therefore makes less sense to develop those vehicles in Japan. Honda employs roughly 2,000 engineers in North America, including 200 or so dispatched from Japan. With these specialists having gained expertise in vehicles sold in the North American market, Honda believes the time is right to have them oversee development of the sedans. 

Honda spends roughly 500 billion yen a year on R&D. From now on, development of vehicles bound for overseas markets will be scaled back at the domestic research base, which will focus on next-generation technology such as a fuel-cell-powered vehicle due out as early as 2015. 

Source;

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/honda-developing-flagship-sedans-in-us-report-2012-11-25