TOKYO, Japan, December 12, 2012 - Honda Motor Co., Ltd. announced that it has newly developed the "Honda Smart Ecological Paint (Honda S.E. Paint)" process, a highly-functional painting technology that eliminates a middle coating process from a commonly used 4-coat/3-bake auto body painting process to realize a 3-coat/2-bake water-based painting process. Honda will introduce this new painting technology at its Yorii Plant at Saitama Factory in Japan that is scheduled to become operational in July 2013.

Conventionally, eliminating the middle coating process would have restricted the paint colors that can be used; however, Honda overcame this challenge by developing a highly-functional material for the color base coat used in the final coating process. This material used for the color base coat makes it possible to use any exterior paint color, which is an automobile industry first for a 3-coat/2-bake process^*.

Moreover, in addition to the Honda S.E. Paint, Honda also will introduce a wall-mounted paint robot system with a built-in quick load / quick wash paint tank. This will lead to a significant improvement in painting efficiency, reduction of the amount of paint materials and a 40% reduction in the number of processes compared to a conventional painting process. As a result, the amount of CO₂ emitted during the painting process will be reduced by 40%.

Including this new painting technology, the Yorii Plant will employ a number of innovative technologies and begin production as a world-leading energy saving plant.