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2 I tirapina, SP – Two years and a few months after completion of its new car factory, Honda celebrated Wednesday 27 the startup of production in its second plant, in Itirapina, SP – one month after starting the shipment of the first Fit models assembled there to the dealer network. The investment topped the R$ 1 billion previously announced in 2013, when the decision to put up the new plant was made. With this amount, Honda would be entitled to participate in the IncentivAuto, the program created by the São Paulo State Administration to stimulate car production. This program allows rebates on the ICMS owed. The capital injection, however, preceded the creation of the incentive program, a fact not lost on the president of Honda South America, Issao Mizoguchi, who jokingly said: “If I could, I would build a time machine”. Governor João Dória, who was present at the opening, then suggested that Honda invest an additional billion in the factory. The president deadpanned: “First I will have to pay for the original billion”. Mizoguchi’s time machine would come in handy, also, to take us back to 2013, when the company, buoyant with the good volumes of a domestic market of 3.8 million units, announced the new plant, which would complement the production in Sumaré. Two years later, with the plant ready to go, the market fell down to 2 million units. The decision made by top management was unusual: they kept the plant, ready but idle. For two years, the production lines would be turned on in order to keep the machinery and equipment in working condition. It was only last year, with the market presenting clearer signs of an upswing in volumes that the decision to transfer production from Sumaré to Itirapina was made. Honda opens plant in Itirapina CAR MANUFACTURER By André Barros Photo: Publicity.

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