By Dawn Kent -- The Birmingham News
AcuraHonda plans to move production of the Acura MDX to its Alabama auto factory.
Honda plans to shift production of the Acura MDX luxury sport utility vehicle to Alabama in 2013.
The move allows the popular Honda CR-V SUV to be made at a factory in Alliston, Ontario, Canada, where the MDX is now built.
The CR-V is currently built in Ohio and elsewhere, but Honda will be able to produce more of them using the Canada assembly lines.
The announcement was made today to employees at the Japanese automaker's Alabama factory in Lincoln, which currently produces the Odyssey minivan, Pilot SUV and Ridgeline pickup.
Output at the Lincoln plant and at Honda manufacturing facilities across North America has been slashed in recent weeks, because of a parts shortage following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
Honda said today that output will continue to be cut significantly through the summer months, and the goal is to bring production back to normal levels around the end of the year.
The company is committed to no layoffs, despite the non-production time, said Mark Morrison, a spokesman for the Lincoln plant. Employees can use vacation, take time off with no pay or report to work for non-production duties during the downtime.
Shifting the MDX to Alabama is part of a long-range plan that was in place before the disaster in Japan, Morrison said.