Honda (HMC) Hybrid Push Brings a New $3 Billion Ohio Plant That Can Still Build EVs
Honda’s new $3 billion Ohio plant, announced November 9, 2026, will mainly build hybrid and gas cars from 2029 and can also make electric ones. Eight months ago, Honda cancelled three electric cars its Ohio plants were retooled for. The new plant’s yearly capacity is close to what Honda’s North American plants have lost since 2022.
The short answer. Honda will spend $3 billion on a new Ohio car plant that can build 240,000 vehicles a year from 2029. It will mainly make gas cars and hybrids, which pair a gas engine with electric motors, and it can also build electric ones. For drivers, that means more hybrids, which were about three in ten Honda brand cars sold in the US in October 2026. The plan follows Honda’s cancellation of three electric cars it had planned to build in Ohio. The new plant’s 240,000 cars a year is close to the yearly capacity Honda’s North American plants have lost since 2022.
Three numbers behind Honda’s new Ohio car plant
Show the data
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| Oct 2022 | 1.86M |
| Nov 2026 | 1.60M |
| After expansion | 1.90M |
On this page
Every company reporting the same week, with its date and time, is in StockTitan’s Earnings Calendar for the Week of November 9, 2026.
What Honda hybrid cars will the new Ohio plant build?
Honda has not named the models yet. It says the plant will make hybrid and gasoline vehicles and can also build fully electric ones, as part of a plan for 15 new hybrids by 2030.
A hybrid, in Honda’s case, is a car that pairs a gasoline engine with electric motors and never needs a plug. Honda’s best sellers already come that way. Its transmission plant in Ohio builds the two-motor hybrid system for the US-made CR-V, Accord and Civic, according to Honda’s Form 6-K of November 9, 2026. A 6-K is the report foreign companies file with US regulators.
The new plant will sit on land between Honda’s East Liberty and Marysville car plants. Honda says it will have the flexibility to build “multiple vehicle types and powertrains,” meaning the engines and motors that drive the wheels, including hybrid and gasoline models “as well as battery-electric vehicles.” Production is expected to begin in 2029, pending final government approvals, with more than 2,000 new jobs.
The timing matches Honda’s product plan. At its May 14, 2026 business briefing, Honda said it would launch 15 next-generation hybrids by March 2030, mostly for North America. It also promised large hybrids built for towing in 2029. Today’s filing says the new plant and the other projects will support the 15-hybrid plan. Honda has not linked the large hybrids to this plant.
The rest of the package points the same way. Honda’s Georgia transmission plant will make hybrid systems for larger vehicles, and its Alabama plant will build a new V6 hybrid engine. In Ohio, the transmission plant is turning an old line into a second hybrid line, which Honda says will raise its hybrid system capacity by 250% in the coming years. Honda’s Canadian plant in Alliston, Ontario, is being retooled for hybrid and gasoline models, and engine making returns there.
| Site | What Honda says it will add |
|---|---|
| New Central Ohio plant | $3 billion, 240,000 vehicles a year, more than 2,000 jobs, production expected in 2029 |
| Transmission plant, Ohio | Second hybrid system line; hybrid system capacity up 250%; next-generation system in production in 2027 |
| Anna Engine Plant, Ohio | Next-generation four-cylinder engine for compact and midsize cars |
| Transmission plant, Georgia | New line for hybrid systems for larger vehicles |
| Alabama Auto Plant | New V6 hybrid engine; Line 1 able to build the Passport |
| Alliston, Ontario | Retooling for hybrid and gasoline models; engine making returns |
Source: Honda Form 6-K, November 9, 2026.
How many Honda buyers choose a hybrid?
About three in ten in October 2026. Honda sold 32,519 Honda brand hybrids in the US that month, its best October for hybrids, out of 109,162 Honda brand cars.
The share is far higher on the best sellers. Hybrids were 53% of CR-V sales in October, 45% of Accord sales and 36% of Civic sales, according to American Honda’s October sales release.
Show the data
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| CR-V | 53% |
| Accord | 45% |
| Civic | 36% |
The trend runs back several years. In 2025, Honda brand sales of electrified models, meaning hybrids plus fully electric cars, passed 400,000 for the first time. It was Honda’s third straight year of record hybrid sales. Nearly 40,000 of those cars were the Prologue, Honda’s electric SUV, so roughly nine in ten were hybrids.
Honda wants the next hybrids to be cheaper to make and to go farther on a gallon. It aims to cut the cost of its next hybrid system by more than 30% from the system in its 2023 models. It also targets fuel economy more than 10% better, according to its May briefing.
What happened to Honda’s Ohio EV hub?
Honda spent years turning three Ohio plants into a hub for electric cars, then cancelled the three models it was meant to build. The battery plant built for those cars now makes batteries for the power grid.
On October 11, 2022, Honda announced $700 million to retool its Marysville, East Liberty and Anna plants for electric cars. It added a $3.5 billion battery plant in Fayette County with the battery maker LG Energy Solution. Honda planned to start building and selling electric cars in North America in 2026.
Making room took real changes. In March 2023, Honda said Marysville would merge its two assembly lines into one so it could build what electric cars need. Accord production was to move to Indiana in 2025. At the time, Honda’s stated vision was for fully electric and fuel cell cars, which make their own power from hydrogen, to make up all of its sales by 2040.
By February 2025, the retooling had grown to over $1 billion. Honda said Marysville had removed much of its second line, and that the Acura RSX would be the first electric car off it in late 2025. The retooled lines were built to make gasoline cars, hybrids and electric cars side by side, and Marysville added a bigger area for assembling hybrid batteries.
Over those years, the number of cars Honda can build in the region each year also fell. Its October 2022 release counted 18 North American plants able to build 1.86 million cars a year. Today’s filing counts the same number of plants and 1.6 million. Honda does not explain the drop. The Marysville line merger may be part of it, but Honda has not said so.
That first electric car never reached buyers. On March 12, 2026, Honda’s board cancelled the electric models planned for production in North America. Its president, Toshihiro Mibe, named them that day as the Honda 0 SUV, the Honda 0 Saloon and the Acura RSX. Honda blamed a slower US electric car market after the end of federal tax credits for buying one and looser emissions rules.
The bill was large. Across its car business, Honda counted 1.45 trillion yen of losses tied to electric cars in its results for the year to March 2026, according to its results filing of May 14, 2026. That is roughly $9.4 billion. Honda expects another 500 billion yen of such losses in the year to March 2027. It says payments to suppliers for the cancelled cars cannot be estimated yet.
The battery plant took its own turn. L-H Battery, the company Honda owns jointly with LG Energy Solution, said on July 1, 2026 that it had started mass production of cells for energy storage systems, large batteries that hold power for the grid, homes and businesses. It says cells for hybrid cars come next. In its annual report, Honda said its US arm agreed to buy the plant’s buildings for $2.53 billion and rent them back to the venture for 12 years.
Show the data
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| Oct 2022 | Honda plans an Ohio electric car hub and a $3.5 billion battery plant. |
| Mar 2023 | Marysville will merge its two assembly lines into one to make room for electric cars. |
| Feb 2025 | Honda says retooling will reach over $1 billion, with the Acura RSX planned as the first electric car. |
| Mar 2026 | Honda cancels the Honda 0 SUV, Honda 0 Saloon and Acura RSX electric cars. |
| May 2026 | Honda plans 15 hybrids by 2030 and reallocates spare Ohio capacity to gas and hybrid cars. |
| Jul 2026 | The Ohio battery plant starts making cells for grid energy storage. |
| Nov 2026 | Honda announces a new $3 billion Ohio plant for hybrid and gas cars, also able to build electric cars. |
Is Honda giving up on electric cars?
Not fully, Honda says. It is spending far less on electric cars for now, but the new plant will be able to build them, and the battery plant will be able to make cells for them.
Honda was direct about it at the May briefing. The cancellations, its speech said, are “by no means an indication that Honda is withdrawing from EV business.” Honda still sells electric cars in Japan and other parts of Asia. It says it is still working on a shared base for future electric cars and on solid-state batteries, a newer battery design that uses no liquid inside.
Honda is not the only carmaker losing money on electric cars. Ford’s electric car unit, Model e, lost $1.06 billion on its operations in the third quarter of 2026, according to Ford’s results release, covered in StockTitan’s Ford earnings article.
The money shows the order of priorities. For the three years to March 2029, Honda’s May briefing says it plans to spend about 4.4 trillion yen on gasoline and hybrid models. It will hold spending on electric cars to about 0.8 trillion yen. Honda says it will decide on new electric car spending from April 2029, watching demand in North America.
The buildings keep the door open. Today’s filing says the new plant can build battery-electric vehicles. It also says the Ohio battery plant can make cells for both hybrid and fully electric cars.
| Ohio plan, 2022 and 2023 | Ohio plan, 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| What the plants were for | Electric cars from 2026 | Hybrid and gas cars, electric cars still possible |
| Battery plant | Cells for Honda electric cars | Cells for grid storage, hybrid cells next |
| Ohio car plants | Marysville merges two assembly lines into one for electric cars | Honda says spare room goes to gas and hybrid cars |
| Announced projects and spending | $700 million retooling plus $3.5 billion battery plant | $3 billion new car plant |
| New jobs | More than 300 at three plants plus 2,200 at the battery plant | More than 2,000 at the new plant |
Why is Honda building a new plant in the US now?
Honda says the plant is meant to meet growing demand for hybrids in North America. It also says tariffs have cut its profit on gasoline and hybrid cars, and it wants more of the parts made locally.
Honda’s North American plants built 1,552,000 cars in the year to March 2026, according to its annual report. Today’s filing puts what those plants can build at 1.6 million cars a year, down from 1.86 million in 2022. With the new plant and the other projects, Honda expects about 1.9 million. In May, Honda said it would give all the spare room in its Ohio car plants to gasoline and hybrid cars.
Tariffs add pressure. Honda said in March 2026 that newly imposed tariffs had cut the profit on its gasoline and hybrid cars. Since most Hondas sold in the US are already assembled in North America, this plan targets parts. Honda plans to raise the locally made share of its motors and inverters, the parts that feed battery power to the motors, to more than four times today’s level. It says that should cut the risk of running short and ease the hit from US tariffs.
Honda already assembles close to home. Nearly 99% of the Honda and Acura cars sold in the US in 2025 were made in North America, today’s filing says. Honda’s 2022 release put the share for 2021 at more than 95%. Honda says it chose Ohio for its skilled workers, nearby suppliers, research centers and the battery plant. Honda said in February 2025 that its five Ohio plants could build 460,000 cars a year, so the new plant adds about half as much again.
What to watch
- Which models the new plant will build: Honda has not named them; its product announcements and SEC filings before production starts, expected in 2029, are where they would appear.
- Payments to suppliers for the cancelled electric cars: Honda says it cannot estimate them yet, and its next quarterly results filing is where an estimate would appear if Honda gives one.
- Whether Honda spends more on electric cars again: Honda says it will decide from April 2029, and its business briefings and results filings from then are the places to check.
Our numbers
These figures are our calculations from the sources linked in this article. The capacity figures are Honda’s own round numbers, so the gap between them is approximate.
- About 260,000 fewer cars a year of North American capacity: 1.86 million in Honda’s October 11, 2022 release minus 1.6 million in its November 9, 2026 filing, both for 18 plants.
- About three in ten Honda brand cars sold in October 2026 were hybrids: 32,519 Honda brand hybrids out of 109,162 Honda brand cars sold in the US that month.
- Roughly nine in ten 2025 electrified sales were hybrids: more than 400,000 Honda brand electrified sales less nearly 40,000 Prologue electric SUVs, with the few hydrogen fuel cell cars counted among the rest.
- Roughly $9.4 billion: 1,453.6 billion yen of EV-related losses for the year to March 2026 converted at 155 yen per dollar, the rate Honda assumes for the year to March 2027 in its August 5, 2026 filing, so it shows scale and is not the dollar cost at the time.
- About half again for Ohio: 240,000 cars a year added to the 460,000 Honda’s Ohio plants could build in February 2025.
Frequently asked questions
How many Honda plants are in Ohio?
Honda listed five Ohio manufacturing plants in February 2025: three car plants (Marysville, East Liberty and the Performance Manufacturing Center), the Anna engine plant and the transmission plant in Russells Point. The new plant will be Honda’s fourth car plant in Ohio. The L-H Battery plant in Fayette County is owned jointly by Honda and LG Energy Solution.
When will Honda’s new Ohio plant open?
Honda expects production to begin in 2029, pending final government approvals. The plant will be able to build 240,000 vehicles a year, and Honda says it will create more than 2,000 jobs.
Is Honda stopping electric cars?
Honda cancelled three electric models for North America in March 2026, but says it is not leaving the business. It still sells electric cars in Japan and other parts of Asia, and the new Ohio plant can build battery-electric vehicles.
What does the Honda battery plant in Fayette County make?
L-H Battery said on July 1, 2026 that it had started mass production of battery cells for energy storage systems used by power grids, homes and businesses. It says cells for hybrid cars will follow. The plant was first planned to supply Honda’s electric cars.
Does Honda’s new Ohio plant mean more US jobs?
Honda says the new plant will create more than 2,000 new American jobs once it opens, expected in 2029. Honda already employs about 33,000 people in North America, today’s filing says. L-H Battery says its Fayette County plant expects 2,200 workers at full capacity, up from more than 1,000 in July 2026.
Sources
- StockTitan, Honda Form 6-K, November 9, 2026
- StockTitan, Honda Motor (HMC) overview
- StockTitan, Ford earnings and its electric car losses
- Ford third quarter 2026 results release (SEC)
- Honda Form 6-K, November 9, 2026 (SEC)
- Honda Form 6-K, March 12, 2026, EV losses notice
- Honda, speech script, March 12, 2026
- Honda Form 6-K, May 14, 2026, results for the year to March 31, 2026
- Honda, 2026 business briefing speech script, May 14, 2026
- Honda Form 20-F, June 18, 2026
- Honda Form 6-K, August 5, 2026, first quarter results
- Honda, Ohio EV hub release, October 11, 2022
- Honda, EV hub next steps, March 14, 2023
- Honda, EV hub flexible production, February 3, 2025
- L-H Battery, mass production of energy storage cells, July 1, 2026
- American Honda, 2025 sales release, January 5, 2026
- American Honda, October 2026 sales release, November 3, 2026
The information provided in this article is for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute financial advice, investment recommendation, or an endorsement of any particular investment strategy. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investors should conduct their own research and consult with a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions.