Dongfeng Honda's second plant to become operational by 2012

Shanghai December 8 (Gasgoo.com) Dongfeng Honda Automobile Co., Ltd., Honda Motor Co's Chinese joint venture with Dongfeng Motor Group , has embarked on construction of its second plant in Wuhan, Hubei Province, Jiefang Daily reported Wednesday.

The new plant covering an area of 1.05 million square meters will incorporate stamping, welding, painting, synthetic resin, engine assembly, final assembly and vehicle testing production lines, as well as the vehicle garage, sewage treatment station, recycling center, office building and other auxiliary facilities.

With an investment of approximately 2 billion yuan ($300 million), the plant will also include utilization of solar power generation that will power some production processes and reduce CO2 emissions by 600 tons annually, the company said earlier.

Under the company's plan, the new plant will be put into operation in the second half of 2012, with an initial annual capacity of 100,000 units, an increase from the original plan of 60,000 units. The capacity will be further expanded to 120,000 units in 2013 and gradually reach 240,000 units.

Upon completion of the first capacity expansion at Dongfeng Honda in 2013, the Japanese automaker's overall annual production capacity in China will reach 890,000 units, consisting of 480,000 units at Guangzhou Honda, and 50,000 units at Honda Automobile (China), an export automobile production joint venture, sources said.