We marked a major milestone in the history of Honda's U.S. manufacturing operations last week, with the production of our 25-millionth U.S.-made automobile. Appropriately, that 25-millionth vehicle was a Honda Accord built by the associates at our Marysville Auto Plant, where Honda began U.S. auto production in November 1982 with production of the second-generation Accord.
Over the course of 35 years, we have steadily grown our U.S. manufacturing capabilities to include 12 plants and more than 30,000 associates building Honda and Acura automobiles and their powertrains, along with Honda powersports products and power equipment, the HondaJet and its GE Honda turbofan engines. Last year, Honda produced 1.2 million vehicles in the United States using domestic and globally sourced parts.
We truly appreciate the trust our Honda and Acura customers have placed in us over the course of the past 35 years. In that spirit, all of us at Honda celebrate this 25-million milestone as an opportunity to rededicate ourselves to our core mission of making people's lives better through the products we create. With the deepest gratitude to our Honda associates we are proud to say, "Thank you."
Tom Shoupe
Executive Vice President and COO
Honda of America Mfg., Inc.