Honda to Shift Most Mexico, Canada Car Production to US

Honda is looking to shift the bulk of its car production in Mexico and Canada to the US, a new report says.

The group wants 90% of cars sold in the United States to be made locally – to avoid new US auto tariffs, Nikkei newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Japan’s second-biggest automaker by sales plans to increase US vehicle production by as much as 30% over two to three years in response to US President Donald Trump’s decision to put a 25% levy on imported vehicles, Nikkei said.

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Honda declined to comment, saying the information was not announced by the company. But the news aligns with a report last month before the new US levy went into effect.

Reuters reported that Honda plans to make its next-generation Civic hybrid in the US state of Indiana, instead of Mexico, to avoid being hit by potential tariffs.

The US was Honda’s biggest market last year, accounting for nearly 40% of global sales. The automaker sold 1.4 million vehicles, including Acura models, in the US last year. It imported about two-fifths of those cars from Canada or Mexico.

Honda posted a 5% rise in US sales to almost 352,000 vehicles in the first three months of this year.

The company will move production of the CR-V SUV from Canada to the US and that of the HR-V SUV from Mexico to the world’s biggest economy, according to Nikkei.

To increase output, Honda is considering hiring more US workers, the newspaper said. Such a step would make it possible for Honda to switch to a three-shift system from two-shift work and extend production to weekends, Nikkei added.