Honda Motor Co., Japan's first automaker to build cars in the United States, said it expects to export more cars and light trucks from North America than it imports to the region within two years.

Honda will be a "net exporter" as its plants in the United States, Canada and Mexico take more responsibility for developing global models for sale in multiple countries, the company said in a statement.

The automaker today marked the production of its 1 millionth export vehicle, a 2013 Accord sedan heading for South Korea, at its Marysville, Ohio, plant.

The first Honda auto exports from the United States began in 1987, and "quality for the world, made in America, has been an important Honda commitment for the past 25 years," President Takanobu Ito said in a statement.

Three decades after the company began building vehicles in Marysville, the company is adding a factory in Mexico that will produce Fit hatchbacks starting in 2014.

Sales of Honda and Acura brand autos are rebounding this year, up 24 percent through November, aided by a 57 percent surge in vehicle production at its North American plants.

Honda's U.S. sales dipped 6.8 percent last year, the result of production disruptions caused by natural disasters in Asia that slowed North American plants for months due to parts shortages.

The company expects to deliver almost 1.46 million Honda and Acura brand vehicles this year in the U.S., up from 1.15 million a year ago, John Mendel, Honda's U.S. executive vice president, said in an interview last month.

The company's U.S. deliveries totaled 1.29 million through November.

 

Source : autonews.com