ANDERSON — The scene was a darkened hotel room in Tokyo. Gov. Mitch Daniels was waiting alone.
When the phone rang, a caller delivered news Daniels wanted to hear.
Honda executives chose Greensburg as the spot for the company’s fourth U.S. automotives plant.
“I’ll never forget it, because it meant not only 2,300 jobs and all the spin-off jobs like GTI,” Daniels said. “It said Indiana had really arrived.”
He made that remark as about 75 community, government and business leaders gathered at the Flagship Enterprise Center Tuesday for the Greenville Technology Inc. jobs announcement.
Honda began production of Civic sedans at Greensburg in October 2008. The following May, a natural-gas-powered variant was added to the line.
In September 2009, the plant began making Civic sedans for export outside North America.
Last fall, the company announced it was adding a second line and hiring 1,000 employees to meet consumer demand for the popular civic model.
In April, Honda began production of the all-new 2013 Acura ILX hybrid at Greensburg.
Last week, Honda announced plans to invest $40 million in the plant and hire another 300 employees to increase annual production by 50,000 cars to a total of 250,000 vehicles.
And early next year the plant will begin making the Civic hybrid.
GTI Anderson will play a significant role in helping to meet those production targets, a Honda spokeswoman said.
“Honda is proud to have GTI producing several interior plastic components for the popular Civic sedan and the all-new Acura ILX close to our Greensburg facility,” said Anita Sipes. “We have worked with GTI for years, so this relationship is only going to grow.”
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