The North American nearshoring trend in automotive manufacturing continued to grow this week with the news that Japanese carmaker Honda Motor Co. Ltd. will build an $11 billion electric vehicle (EV) plant in Ontario, Canada.
The move comes as auto parts manufacturers and suppliers have invested millions in new EV plants in Georgia, North Carolina, another U.S. location that is not yet announced, and a swath of sites across the U.S. Southeast, all in the past year. Automotive supply chains have also been sprouting up in Mexico, due to its closer location and more simpatico political positions to the U.S. than China.
In the latest example, Honda said it was investing in the Canadian site to strengthen its EV supply system and capability to prepare for a future increase in EV demand in North America. The company expects that electric vehicle production will begin at the Ontario plant in 2028, reaching a production capacity of 240,000 EVs per year and 36 GWh of EV batteries per year.
Toward that same goal, Honda had announced earlier this month a $700 million investment to position its existing auto production plant in Marysville, Ohio, as its future EV Hub for production, with cars expected to begin rolling off that manufacturing line in late 2025.
