Alliston, ON – Honda of Canada Mfg. (HCM), a division of Honda Canada Inc., announced today that it will invest $857 million over three years to innovate its three award-winning manufacturing plants in Alliston, ON with new technologies and processes. This announcement comes as the company prepares for its unprecedented role as the global lead plant for the next generation of the Honda Civic, the best-selling passenger car in Canada for the past 16 consecutive years. The new investment brings Honda’s total Canadian manufacturing investments to over $3.9 billion since 1986, when Honda became the first Japanese auto maker to build a manufacturing facility in Canada.

HCM is partnering with the Government of Ontario on this program, with the province contributing 10 per cent of the total investment.

As the lead global plant, HCM will not only be the first plant in the world to launch the next generation Civic into mass production, but will be responsible for developing the manufacturing processes and tooling trials that will form the manufacturing base at all Honda plants globally that will build the next Civic model.

“We are deeply proud to be the lead plant for the next generation of Honda Civic, a designation that reflects the incredible efforts of Honda associates over the past quarter century to produce products of the highest quality for our customers in Canada and around the world,” said Jerry Chenkin, President and CEO of Honda Canada Inc. “This marks the first time a Honda plant outside Japan has been designated as a ‘global lead plant’, which reflects the knowledge and experience of our Canadian associates.

”In addition to supporting the global lead plant activities, the investment will enable Honda to invest in innovative technologies and processes to modernize all three of its plants – two auto assembly plants and one engine plant. It will also secure thousands of well-paying, high-quality jobs in Alliston and throughout the province in Honda’s deep supplier network. Finally, the investment will help secure HCM’s position in an increasingly competitive global automotive manufacturing environment and also reinforce its important role within Honda’s global operations.

“Through this investment in Ontario, Honda is tapping into our biggest strength — our highly skilled workforce,” said Premier Kathleen Wynne. “Our government is hard at work to secure more partnerships like this, partnerships that keep good jobs here in Ontario and that build our economy ups o that people have more opportunity and security. ”Honda of Canada Mfg. has the capacity to produce 390,000 Civic and CR-V models annually for the Canadian and North America markets, as well as for export. Of which, approximately 100,000 Canadian built Civic and CR-V units are sold on an annual basis here in Canada. HCM also produces 240,000 four cylinder engines annually.