FIRST - Japanese Car Built in the U.S. - Marysville, OH
Posted by: 
Mr. 0
N 40° 16.544 W 083° 30.821
17T E 286286 N 4461393
The Honda manufacturing plant was the first Japanese manufacturing plant to be built in the United States.
Waymark Code: WM3164
Location: Ohio, United States
Date Posted: 01/23/2008
Views: 118
It all started in 1979. Honda had built a motorcycle manufacturing plant on the outskirts of Marysville, Ohio, a small rural community. The first vehicle produced here was a red CR 250 dirt bike. Since then the plant, and community have grown quickly, leading the way to many other foreign automakers to move operations to the U.S.
Another major milestone for Honda's Marysville plant was its expansion to begin producing automobiles. On November 1, 1982, the first Japanese car rolled off a U.S. assembly line here in Marysville. It was a four-door Honda Accord which was given a special license plate of "USA 001."
Currently the motorcycle and car lines are still here, along with extensive R&D offices, including a test track, engine and transmission plants, and even a soybean processing plant. Some of the models made here are the Gold Wing motorcycle, the Element SUV, and the Accord sedan. There are roughly 16,000 people employed at the Honda facility.
A link to an article about this first can be found at Cnn.com.
Because of their way of building their facilities, it's hard to get a picture of the plant. They have always tried to have as little impact on the environment as possible, which includes landscaping to hide the plant. It is surrounded by hills and trees to obscure it from the surrounding highways. If you pull up to one of the gates, and speak with the security officer they're usually ok with you taking a quick photo.