El Salto, Mexico, November 22, 2007–Honda de Mexico, S.A. de C.V.(HDM), a Honda subsidiary in Mexico, today held a ceremony to commemorate the achievement of a key milestone – cumulative production of 200,000 automobiles. The ceremony was attended by Felipe Calderon Hinojosa, the president of Mexico; Eduardo Sojo Garza-Aldape, the economic secretary of Mexico; Emilio Gonzalez Marquez, the governor of the state of Jalisco; as well as Takeo Fukui, the president & CEO of Honda and approximately 1,300 HDM associates. 

Moreover, HDM announced that it will begin production of a new product, BIG RED (a 2-passenger offroad multipurpose vehicle), which is scheduled to go on sale in the U.S. next summer. In addition, HDM has been expanding its service parts production capacity. The annual production capacity of plastic injection molded parts reached 1 million units, and annual capacity of stamped steel parts will reach 1.4 million units. Including a series of production capacity expansions being carried out since last year, Honda’s total investment in Mexico from 2006 to 2008 is expected to reach US$140 million. 

HDM began business in 1987 with sales of Honda motorcycles. Since beginning local production of motorcycles in 1988 and automobiles, with Accord, in 1995, HDM has been expanding its local production. In September of this year, HDM began local production of CR-V, a very popular model in Mexico, and expanded annual production capacity from 30,000 units to 50,000 units. HDM will continue strengthening its production to respond to customer demand in Mexico, as well as to increase supply to North America and countries in South America, primarily nations in the Mercosur trade pact.