Tokyo, September 3, 2001 - Honda Motor Co., Ltd. announced today that the completion of its new plant at Hosoe, affiliated with its Hamamatsu factory in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan.

The new plant will begin production of outboard engines from September 4.

Embodying Honda's "Green Factory Concept," the Hosoe Plant will be the benchmark for Honda's 21st Century environmentally-oriented plants. The plant has adopted Honda's state-of-the-art high efficiency production technologies, thereby reducing negative impact on the environment surrounding nearby Hamanako Lake. This will be achieved through a 40% reduction in CO₂ emissions as well as zero discharge of wastewater from its production processes.

The plant has also adopted improved working conditions based on new production equipment and technologies that were designed in part based on ideas submitted by many Honda associates.
All these improvements resulted in a multi-functional, integrated and synchronized production line where operations that used to be handled by two separate production lines now proceed smoothly through engine assembly, frame assembly, final inspection to shipping. The result is an innovative production line that improves quality and reduces costs while providing greater production flexibility.

The Hosoe Plant will produce a total of 15 models, from the small outboard engine, BF2, to the world's largest class, the V6, 4-stroke outboard engine, BF225, a prototype of which was shown at the Miami International Boat Show & Strictly Sail event in February.

The new plant is located next to the outdoor outboard engine test site that was commissioned in June 1998. This will become an all-round outboard engine production base, where everything from production to tests will be carried out.