Jun Nishimoto, Jeff Conrad at Honda’s Greensburg Plant

Official release from hondanews.com:

04/23/2012 – GREENSBURG, Ind.

GREENSBURG, Ind. (April 23, 2012) – Honda Manufacturing of Indiana, LLC (HMIN), celebrated the start of mass production of the all-new 2013 Acura ILX today. The first ILX, built exclusively in Indiana, rolled off the assembly line at 10:30 a.m. EST and was greeted by Honda associates, community partners and elected officials, who gathered to mark its launch.

“Acura has a sparkling reputation and we are thrilled to build the gateway vehicle to this brand at our Greensburg facility,” said Jun Nishimoto, president of Honda Manufacturing of Indiana. “As the exclusive builder of the ILX, HMIN has a big responsibility. Our associates meet this challenge by working together as one team and today we are ready for our customers to share our pride in this beautiful new product.”

The new Acura ILX sedan symbolizes the gateway to the Acura lineup and comes with both gasoline and gas-electric hybrid powertrain options. HMIN produces three versions of the Acura ILX – a 150-horsepower, 4-cylinder 2.0-liter model, a 201-horsepower 2.4-liter model with 6-speed manual transmission, and the ILX Hybrid, with a 1.5-liter 4-cylinder engine. The gasoline engines for the 2,0- and 2.4-liter versions of Acura ILX come from the Anna, Ohio, engine plant of Honda of America Mfg., Inc.

The Acura ILX hybrid version is Acura’s first-ever hybrid model, the first hybrid vehicle to be made in America at a Honda plant, and the first Acura model to be produced in Indiana. The Acura ILX joins the TL sedan, ZDX crossover vehicle, and the MDX and RDX sport-utility vehicles as the fifth Acura model produced exclusively in North America. Acura finished second among all luxury brands in the J.D. Power and Associates’ 2011 Initial Quality Study.

“This all-new Acura luxury sedan is closely linked to the future of Acura,” said Jeff Conrad, vice president and general manager of Acura for American Honda. “Just as the Acura ILX is the gateway to the Acura brand, Honda Manufacturing of Indiana is a gateway to Acura customers.”

About HMIN
Honda Manufacturing Indiana, LLC (HMIN) in Greensburg, Ind., earned the platinum award in the J.D. Power and Associates 2011 Initial Quality Study. HMIN began operations with production of Civic Sedans in October 2008. HMIN added production of Honda’s natural gas-powered Civic Sedan in May 2009, and began producing Civic for export to markets outside North America in September 2009. It began producing the all-new Acura ILX in April 2012. With employment of approximately 2,000 associates and capital investment exceeding $550 million, HMIN started operations as a zero-waste-to-landfill factory, meaning no waste is sent to landfills, and maintains one of the lowest environmental footprints of any automobile plant in Honda’s global production network.

About Acura
Acura offers a full line of technologically advanced performance luxury vehicles through a network of 272 dealers within the United States. The 2012 Acura lineup features six distinctive models including the RL luxury performance sedan, the TL performance luxury sedan, the TSX sports sedan and Sport Wagon, the turbocharged RDX crossover SUV, the MDX luxury SUV and the ZDX four-door sports coupe.

About Honda in America
This year, Honda will celebrate 30 years of producing automobiles in America. Based on Honda’s longstanding commitment to build products close to the customer, Honda currently operates 14 manufacturing facilities in North America, producing a wide range of Honda and Acura automobiles, automobile engines and automatic transmissions, Honda all-terrain vehicles, and Honda power equipment products, such as lawn mowers, mini-tillers and general purpose engines. Honda products are made in North America using domestic and globally sourced parts.

Today, the company has four auto plants in the U.S. and seven in North America with a new auto plant under construction in Celaya, Mexico, which will begin producing subcompact cars in 2014. Honda’s total automobile production capacity in the region, currently at 1.63 million vehicles per year, will grow to more than 1.87 million vehicles annually in 2014. In 2010, more than 87 percent of the Honda and Acura products sold in the U.S. were built in North America, using domestic and globally sourced parts.

[Source: Honda]