Honda will begin making the Ridgeline pickup at its Alabama assembly plant next year, another sign of activity for a booming state auto manufacturing industry that has seen its jobs increase 80 percent since 2001.

The Japanese automaker informed employees of the new production plans during meetings at its Lincoln plant. Honda now builds two vehicles at the facility: the Odyssey minivan and the Pilot sport utility, which has been redesigned.

The Ridgeline, introduced in 2005, is Honda’s only pickup, and has several features that set it apart from other trucks in its class, said Jim Hossack, a consultant with California-based market researcher AutoPacific.

Those features include a cab and bed that are one unit, as opposed to separate, and a small bed with a useful trunk at the bottom. The truck is relatively expensive to build and costly to buy, as far as its peers go, but it offers an unusually good ride, Hossack said.

“It’s more carlike, less trucklike,” he said. “To some that’s an advantage and to some it’s not.”

Last year, Honda sold 42,795 Ridgelines, a 15 percent drop from its 2006 sales totals. Prices for the 2008 model start at $28,000.

Honda’s $1.4 billion Lincoln plant, which employs 4,500 people, is the sole global source of both the Odyssey and the Pilot. Last year, workers set a record by producing 313,957 of the vehicles, surpassing the plant’s announced capacity of 300,000.

Mark Morrison, a spokesman for Honda’s Lincoln plant, said the company does not talk about future production plans.

“We’re currently making the Odyssey and Pilot at our facility in Alabama. That’s our focus right now. We’re also gearing up to produce an all-new Pilot,” he said.

A mix of products:

The plant is built on Honda’s global flexible manufacturing system, which means its two assembly lines can accommodate different products.

An example of that flexibility can be found at the Ridgeline’s current home in Canada, where it is built alongside the Honda Civic and the Acura MDX.

A mix of products:

The plant is built on Honda’s global flexible manufacturing system, which means its two assembly lines can accommodate different products.

An example of that flexibility can be found at the Ridgeline’s current home in Canada, where it is built alongside the Honda Civic and the Acura MDX.

The addition of the Ridgeline would expand Alabama’s automaking line-up to eight vehicles.

Along with Honda’s Odyssey and Pilot, other state products are the Mercedes-Benz M-Class sport utility, R-Class crossover and GL-Class full-sized sport utility, all made in Vance, and the Sonata sedan and Santa Fe sport utility, which Hyundai produces in Montgomery.

A new survey shows Alabama’s automaking industry, comprising assembly plants, suppliers and other related businesses, continues to thrive, with 134,226 direct and indirect jobs that generated a $5.2 billion payroll in 2007. In 2001, there were 75,788 total jobs in the industry.

The survey is to be presented today at a quarterly meeting of the Alabama Automotive Manufacturers Association.

Despite the growth, the survey also indicates opportunities to spread the wealth in the sector along a wide swath of counties lining the Alabama-Mississippi line, particularly those in the Black Belt.

Counties including Lamar, Fayette, Pickens, Greene, Sumter, Hale, Marengo, Choctaw, Washington, Clarke, Wilcox, Monroe and Baldwin do not have automotive plants, the survey shows.

But possibilities are on the horizon.

On the northern end of that swath, the future Interstate 22 that will link Birmingham and Memphis is seen as prime property for automotive suppliers.

At one end of the corridor, Toyota is building an assembly plant near Tupelo, Miss., and automotive supplier Magna International Inc. is eyeing the Guin area for a contract assembly plant.

To the south, near the Black Belt, there is a site spanning the Alabama-Mississippi line that has been marketed to major economic development prospects. It is one of several sites in the state that has been identified as able to handle another auto assembly plant.

Tuscaloosa No. 1:

Now, Tuscaloosa County, home of the Mercedes-Benz assembly plant, has the most automotive jobs in the state, with 7,915. It is followed by Honda’s base of Talladega County, with 6,318 jobs. Montgomery County, with the Hyundai plant, rounds out the top three, with 5,513 jobs.

The survey, conducted for AAMA by researchers at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, included 285 plants.

The 48,457 direct jobs reported in 2007 represent an 8 percent increase over those counted in the 2005 survey and an 80 percent increase since AAMA’s surveys began in 2001.

E-mail: dkent@bhamnews.com

http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/120427656930790.xml&coll=2

Acura TL – Marysville, Ohio
BMW X5 – Spartanburg, South Carolina
BMW Z4 – Spartanburg, South Carolina
Honda Accord – Marysville, Ohio
Honda Civic – East Liberty, Ohio
Honda Element – East Liberty, Ohio
Honda Odyssey – Lincoln, Alabama
Honda Pilot – Lincoln, Alabama
Mercedes-Benz M-Class – Vance, Alabama
Mercedes-Benz R-Class – Vance, Alabama
Mazda 6 – Flat Rock, Michigan
Mazda B-Series – Minneapolis, Minnesota
Mazda Tribute – Kansas City, Missouri
Hyundai Sonata – Montgomery, Alabama
Hyundai Santa Fe – Montgomery, Alabama
Infiniti QX56 – Canton, Mississippi
Isuzu Ascender – Moraine, Ohio and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Isuzu i-Series Pickup – Shreveport, Louisiana
Mitsubishi Eclipse – Normal, Illinois
Mitsubishi Endeavor – Normal, Illinois
Mitsubishi Galant – Normal, Illinois
Mitsubishi Raider – Warren, Michigan
Nissan Altima – Smyrna, Tennessee and Canton, Mississippi
Nissan Armada – Canton, Mississippi
Nissan Frontier – Smyrna, Tennessee
Nissan Maxima – Smyrna, Tennessee
Nissan Pathfinder – Smyrna, Tennessee
Nissan Quest – Canton, Mississippi
Nissan Titan – Canton, Mississippi
Nissan Xterra – Smyrna, Tennessee
Saab 9-7X – Moraine, Ohio
Subaru Baja – Lafayette, Indiana
Subaru B9 Tribeca – Lafayette, Indiana
Subaru Legacy – Lafayette, Indiana
Subaru Outback – Lafayette, Indiana
Toyota Avalon – Georgetown, Kentucky
Toyota Camry – Georgetown, Kentucky
Toyota Camry Solara – Georgetown, Kentucky
Toyota Corolla – Fremont, California
Toyota Sequoia – Princeton, Indiana
Toyota Sienna – Princeton, Indiana
Toyota Tundra – Princeton, Indiana
Toyota Tacoma – Fremont, California

1. Honda’s Civic hybrid vehicle will be imported to Chinese market by the end of this year and it will be priced at $22,000-$25,000. The vehicle is powered by 1.3 Liter i-VETC engine and IMA, electromotor, nickel-hydrogen battery, and power control unit. The maximum output and torque of this vehicle is equivalent to that of a 1.8 liter gasoline engine.

Experts say the vehicle can run 31 kilometers on one liter gas and that it consumes half as much gasoline as a conventional 1.8 liter vehicle does.

Honda’s joint venture Dongfeng Honda is also planning to locally produce Honda Civic Hybrid which is similar to the imported hybrid in China next year. So for, Honda has sold more than 100,000 Civic Hybrid vehicles worldwide.

2. General Motors chairman Wagoner announced in Beijing earlier this month his companywill start local production of Chevrolet brand hybrid vehicle in China next year. The vehicle is developed by the Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center, a joint research facility between General Motors and Shanghai Automotive. Shanghai GM did not release estimated prices for this vehicle, but Wagoner said it should not be too expensive.

The vehicle is powered by a 2.4 liter straight-four engine. The vehicle’s maximum output is 125kw/6400rpm, maximum torque is 225Nm/48000rpm and maximum velocity is 210km/h.

3. BYD’s F6DM will be the first iron battery powered vehicle throughout the world. The dual mode vehicle, priced at $20,000, will hit Chinese market next year. The vehicle can run as long as 430 kilometers after recharging (100 kilometers on electricity-powered mode and 330 kilometers on hybrid mode). The output of this vehicle is 200 KW and maximum velocity is 160 km/hour; it consumes 15 KWH to run 100 kilometers.

The first Hybrid vehicle that entered Chinese market is Toyota Prius, which started production in Changchun-based FAW-Toyota at the end of 2005. But the sales of this hybrid vehicle are abysmally small.

In the first nine months this year, Toyota Prius sold only 283 units in China. Experts say disappointing sales of Toyota Prius is a result of its prices. It is too expensive and China has not yet offered substantial policy incentives to hybrid vehicle manufacturers and customers.

Unlike the Civic Hybrid which has put a very small dent in the Prius’ success, the new model will only be available with a hybrid system and is rumored to take its styling cues from the FCX fuel-cell vehicle set to begin production next year. This new model will be joined by another hybrid based off the CR-Z concept that debuted in Tokyo.

[Source: Automotive News – Sub. Req.]