Honda Is Running Its North American Factories So Hard It May Need A New One

Honda’s manufacturing footprint in North America may not be done growing. Company boss Toshihiro Mibe says Honda is weighing an eighth assembly plant in the region, a move that would deepen its local commitment at a moment when its existing sites are running low on room to grow.

While speaking with Japanese publication Yomiuri Shimbun earlier this week, Mibe noted that the seven plants Honda operates in Canada, the US, and Mexico have an annual total production capacity of 1.67 million vehicles. With output nearing that ceiling, he said it’s important to build out a “buffer” that gives the company room to raise production when it needs to.

Read: Honda Took A $16 Billion Bath On EVs, So Now Wants More EVs On A Platform That Can Switch Sides

“It’s almost in full production,” Mibe said. “If you don’t have a buffer, you can’t recover production.” According to GlobalData, Honda’s US factories in Ohio, Indiana, and Alabama run at 85 percent of their combined 1.2 million-vehicle capacity. Its overall North American utilization rate sits around 90 percent of a maximum 1.8 million units, reports Autonews.

According to Mibe, ongoing tariffs have made it difficult for the company to turn a profit in the United States, and the best way forward “is to produce where there is demand.” As it stands, North America accounts for more than 40 percent of Honda’s global sales, and Mibe says he wants to “build up quite a bit” of sales across the region, without specifying how many more sales he’d like to see.

American Honda is targeting more than 9 percent US market share in 2026 and expects to outperform the industry.

Honda’s EV Reversal

Honda’s commitment to North America comes despite its costly decision earlier this year to scrap its 0 Series of EVs and end its joint venture with Sony to launch the Afeela brand. Mibe says canceling the development of these new models was “right overall” and says he will “try to incorporate the findings” made through the Sony partnership into future Honda products. Two months ago, Honda also walked back plans for a $15 billion EV and battery production hub in Ontario, Canada.

“The possibility of a capacity increase is always a consideration for the future growth of our automobile business in North America,” a Honda spokesperson added to Auto News. “However, no decisions have been made regarding a new U.S. plant.”

Also: Honda Just Killed Its Only Remaining EV After A Brutal Sales Collapse

Included in the future plans for North America is a large hybrid SUV, expected to launch in 2029. Despite retreating from many of its EV plans, Honda isn’t abandoning the technology entirely, confirming work on a flexible new architecture that will support both hybrids and EVs. Several next-generation hybrid models are planned, and the company intends to shift much of its Ohio capacity toward gasoline and hybrid production.