Honda to export more cars from North America than it imports within two years

Honda said it will become a net exporter of vehicles from North America by 2014, producing more cars here for sale in foreign countries than it imports from Japan each year.

Honda produced an Accord at its Marysville, Ohio, plant Wednesday that will be exported to South Korea. It was Honda's 1 millionth export vehicle from North America. Jeff Hinckley, Columbus Dispatch  

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Honda expects to send more North American-built cars to other countries by 2014 than it brings here each year from Japan.

"Quality for the world, made in America, has been an important Honda commitment for the past 25 years," Honda Motor President and Chief Executive Takanobu Ito told workers in Marysville, Ohio, in a recorded video. "In the coming years, we will take on the challenge of helping even more customers around the world enjoy Honda products made in the USA."

The plant built an Accord sedan Wednesday that was the 1 millionth North American Honda made for export markets since 1987. The Accord will eventually be sold in South Korea.

This year, Honda expects to export about 100,000 vehicles from its plants in Ohio, Indiana, Alabama and Canada, coming close to an export record it set in 1994. That would be more than double 2011's exports. Still, it will import about 50,000 more cars from Japan than it will export.

With plans to increase U.S. production over the next two years, Honda says its exports will pass its imports by 2014.

Shifting exports to the United States from Japan makes good sense, trade experts said.

Though sales have improved dramatically this year, Honda is using less of its factories' capacities than it did before the Great Recession. The combination of new plants and plant expansions with lower sales left the company with more room to build cars than it needed, said Juscelino Colares, an international law professor at Case Western Reserve University.

"This slack in production capacity, in the presence of a lower U.S. dollar, means all of this capacity can start going abroad," Colares said.

Honda unveiled the Acura NSX concept car at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January. To be made at a new plant in Ohio, the NSX will likely be exported to several countries around the world. Paul Sancya, Associated Press  

Japanese automakers have struggled with a strong yen for several years. Because that country's currency is strong, products exported from Japan are more expensive in Europe and North America. The relatively weak U.S. dollar makes exporting from this country more attractive.

Add to that free-trade deals reached in recent years with countries in South America and Asia, and U.S. production becomes more attractive, Colares said.

"It's a very favorable market for manufacturers," he added.

Robert M. Stern, a visiting professor of international economics at the University of California Berkley and a professor emeritus of the University of Michigan, called the development a positive sign for manufacturing in the United States in general.

"Not only are they going to export the cars, but a lot of the components that got into the assembly of the cars are produced in the United States," Stern said. "It helps expand the total manufacturing base of the United States."

Most of Honda's U.S. and Canadian exports go to Mexico and the Middle East. In the early 1990s, U.S. plants shipped significant numbers of cars to Japan, but those exports stopped about eight years ago.

The company said each of its North American plants export some vehicles to foreign markets. Honda is building a new plant near its existing Marysville and East Liberty plants in Ohio to make the next generation of its Acura NSX supercar. Large numbers of that specialty vehicle will likely be exported to performance car enthusiasts worldwide.