Honda Prelude Forum - PreludeDriver.com

The Talladega County Commission approved nearly $2 million in new tax breaks for Honda, which announced a $64.5 million expansion of its east Alabama assembly plant.

The tax abatements, approved during a meeting Monday, are related to a 27,000-square-foot expansion that will create 20 jobs. Work is set to begin May 1, with completion set for 2009.

The new space will be used to store steel near assembly lines where machines stamp out car parts.

"The addition of a steel banking facility will offer improved efficiency in costs, quality and delivery for our Alabama manufacturing operations," Honda spokesman Mark Morrison said.

Honda employs more than 4,500 people in Alabama, where it has invested about $1.3 billion.

Which vechicles are produced at the plant?

We roll-off the Odyssey and Pilot (pilot is about to get a facelift before 2009, by the way) and we produce all our engines for both production units. We're the sole production source of the USDM Odyssey and hopefully soon will also be the sole source of the Pilot.

End of last year we rolled out our one millionth vehicle and engine, attained since start of production in 2001. We hit that mark less than five years after we officially hit mass production on the lines.

Our engine facility cranks out the J35Z1 series V6 engine for our Pilots and Odysseys. The Ridgeline J35A9 series is also sold to GM for use in the Saturn Vue.

~ Josh