TOKYO, Japan, February 26, 2009 - Honda Motor Co., Ltd. today announced that the company has signed an "Agreement concerning regulations and standards for establishing R&D facilities in Kazusa Akademia Park^*" with Chiba prefecture and Investment Promotion Association of Kazusa Akademia Park (chaired by Governor Akiko Domoto of Chiba prefecture) based on its decision to build a new research facility that will enable Honda to work toward the establishment and practical application of bio-ethanol production technology from non-edible cellulosic material such as the stems and leaves of plants.

The new Kazusa-branch facility of Honda R&D Co., Ltd. Fundamental Technology Research Center, will be built within the Kazusa Akademia Park (in Kisarazu, Chiba). Honda plans to build a single 1,050m²building (approximate gross floor space) as a testing facility on the 5,000m² lot. The construction is scheduled to begin in April 2009, with the goal to begin operations in November 2009.

Honda is continuing its collaborative research on bio-ethanol production technology with RITE (Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth) which began in 2006 and has been conducting research on the bio-ethanol conversion process using an experimental plant built within the Honda R&D Co., Ltd. Fundamental Technology Research Center (Wako, Saitama) since April 2007. In order to move toward practical application of the technology, Honda decided to build a new facility as it became necessary to conduct a research using a large-scale experimental facility which enables more accurate evaluations.