[Dabutcher]

Anyone know why this happened?
I believe the Honda Accord was produced on the first shift in Ohio and Goldwing was produced on second shift in the same factory.
Is my 2012 the first year of GW’s produced in Japan ? And why did they move production to Japan?
Thanks. D

 

[Va Winger]

The Wings and the Accords were built in two different factories adjacent to each other. It is my understanding Honda wanted the Wing factory for additional auto production. Honda also built a large modern plant in Japan and moved all motorcycle production there.

 

[WVMANDINGO]

It was widely speculated at the time that it was to help stimulate their own economy which had been stagnant for over a decade . With the onset of the global recession, there were incentives to move home. The new factory gave them a lot of flexibility to better control production, and freed the Ohio plant to concentrate on automobiles.

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[schlep1967]

You can bet it was about dollars. If the cost of labor and shipping is cheaper with the plant over there, and you have to retool the plant at that time for the new model.... it made monetary sense.

 

[kwthom]

You can bet it was about dollars. If the cost of labor and shipping is cheaper with the plant over there, and you have to retool the plant at that time for the new model.... it made monetary sense.

The 2012 was slightly changed from the 2010, so it's not really a 'new' model.

The 'Wing was not the only motorcycle produced in Marysville; many other medium and large-displacement machines were built in the same factory.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marysville_Motorcycle_Plant

 

[William Anzik]

Anyone know why this happened?
I believe the Honda Accord was produced on the first shift in Ohio and Goldwing was produced on second shift in the same factory.
Is my 2012 the first year of GW’s produced in Japan ? And why did they move production to Japan?
Thanks. D

Others have speculated about why it moved. I'd guess it was a combination of those reasons.

GoldWing production started in the US in 1980. The first few years of GoldWings were built in Japan. So, no, your 2012 was not the first model year built in Japan, but it was the first GL1800 built in Japan.

 

[pwhoever]

And another useless bit of trivia... The 2010 was the last year of US built 1800's. The reason there was no 2011 was because of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that caused widespread damage to Japan and prevented them from starting production. This also caused a huge shortage on all parts too. They eventually were able to get up and running but it took some time to get back to normal.

 

[Trebor1978]

But you can still buy a $200,000 Acura NSX built by those fine people in Ohio!

 

[Zee Fifty]

I met a guy riding in a Christmas toy run that worked building Goldwing engines in the engine plant. He told me they built Goldwing engines on one shift and the other shifts built Civic engines.

Don’t know for sure. Just what he told me.

He spoke very very highly of Honda’s quality control and requirements. ..... he was riding a Harley.

 

[Brian_Fenner]

I met a guy riding in a Christmas toy run that worked building Goldwing engines in the engine plant. He told me they built Goldwing engines on one shift and the other shifts built Civic engines.

Don’t know for sure. Just what he told me.

He spoke very very highly of Honda’s quality control and requirements. ..... he was riding a Harley.

When I took the tour of the Anna Ohio engine plant (late 90's) they were building both Civic and Goldwing engines on the exact same assembly line at the same time.......they would be staggered on the line and it was not obvious to the bystander which was which until they got farther down the line.

It was very cool to see........I would take a long distance road trip in a heartbeat if the opportunity ever presented itself again.

 

[DDL]

The "Harley Davidson" induced tariffs expired and the "in control" party at the time had no intentions to extend them. There was an engine size limit that required higher tariffs on imported motorcycles and Honda bypassed them by producing Goldwings in Ohio.

 

[weengers]

And another useless bit of trivia... The 2010 was the last year of US built 1800's. The reason there was no 2011 was because of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that caused widespread damage to Japan and prevented them from starting production. This also caused a huge shortage on all parts too. They eventually were able to get up and running but it took some time to get back to normal.

Wouldn't the 2011's have been introduced in October of 2010, if there were going to be a 2011 model?

I think no 2011's what they planned. Possibly to reduce the inventory they had built up for the move.

 

[Wingmaster12]

I had already been to dealer and discussing my new 2012 and waiting for it when the sunami hit. The dealers had to take what was sent to them for the first shipments.


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[pwhoever]

Wouldn't the 2011's have been introduced in October of 2010, if there were going to be a 2011 model?

I think no 2011's what they planned. Possibly to reduce the inventory they had built up for the move.

Yes, but the decision was made to move prior to that. It looks like production was halted in June 2009 and the last GL1800's churned out were designated 2010 model year. It used to be the next model year in not only bikes but vehicles as well would come out late summer, early fall. But that's not always the case anymore. I would bet that they had still planned on turning out a 2011, even though it would have been late, but the disaster threw them a big setback.

 

[El Toro]

The "Harley Davidson" induced tariffs expired and the "in control" party at the time had no intentions to extend them. There was an engine size limit that required higher tariffs on imported motorcycles and Honda bypassed them buy producing Goldwings in Ohio.

I wondered when someone would remember this.

The other thing that happened was the financial crisis of 2008 and the recession that followed. The concept of multi year leftovers was really established with the 2007 through 2012 bikes in general.

Yamaha blew stuff out, as did Triumph and BMW. I got some incredible discounts for MY 2007,8,9,and 10 on these marques, approaching 45% off msrp in some cases.

One thing was sure, and that was that sales had tanked ... especially big bike sales.

By 2009 an astute company like Honda could see the writing on the wall. The plant had served its purpose. They’d learned lessons from the frame recall adventure. It was time to put engineering and manufacturing back in close proximity.

 

[JonfromCB]

Lots of reasons. You can Google it and read 'till your eyes bleed. In a nutshell, The tax credits, deferments, and utility exemptions given by the state of Ohio were expiring at the same time worldwide motorcycle sales were in a several year decline...so it was going to cost Honda a lot more to operate in Ohio. So Honda decided to build a new more modern plant back home in Japan where they could reduce costs, increase efficiency, and assemble and ship all their 250cc and larger motorcycles for worldwide export from one single facility. By the way, they also out-played Ohio by shutting down motorcycle production until Ohio caved and gave new taxpayer paid for incentives to a completely different company (Acura) to come into the facility...In return Ohio saved some jobs. Thing is, Ohio taxpayers are still paying for the incentive debts on the original deal from the 70s. Typical taxpayer subsidized manufacturing jobs brought to us by politicians who say we must not allow socialism. hehe Politicians are genii, voters are stupid.

 

[awingnut105]

FWIW, my Honda dealer’s Honda rep told him the 1800 was moved back to Japan so they could monitor the transmission issues more closely.

 

[cihilb]

The "Harley Davidson" induced tariffs expired and the "in control" party at the time had no intentions to extend them. There was an engine size limit that required higher tariffs on imported motorcycles and Honda bypassed them by producing Goldwings in Ohio.

Honda started making Goldwings in Ohio in 1985. Long before the tariffs.
I was told they moved them back to Japan in order to produce more cars in the US.
The plant in Marysville made bikes on one side and cars on the other.

 

[JonfromCB]

Actually, Honda started building 1980 model year Wings in Marysville in 1979, and the transmission problems continued after production returned to Japan. Building a new plant 12,000 miles away in order to increase quality control of transmissions is the funniest reason I've heard. hehe, better not buy any of those Acura transmissions installed by many of the same people in Marysville.

 

[awingnut105]

Actually, Honda started building 1980 model year Wings in Marysville in 1979, and the transmission problems continued after production returned to Japan. Building a new plant 12,000 miles away in order to increase quality control of transmissions is the funniest reason I've heard. hehe, better not buy any of those Acura transmissions installed by many of the same people in Marysville.

Does Acura even offer the option the option of a manual transmission? The rep went on to say that the machines that cut the gears in Marysville were not being maintained properly and after a time the gears were being cut out of spec. True? Who knows, but no funnier than any other idea people have come up with and it came from someone associated with Honda.