By Parks McCants
Reprinted with Permission from torquenews.com
A vehicle of several first for Honda, East Liberty Ohio began mass production Tuesday, and will serve for the first time as the Global lead plant for the best selling SUV of any size in North America, 20 years running.
With over 4 million Honda CR-V compact SUVs produced in the marks 20 year history, CR-V remains the #1 selling SUV of any size in North America. Honda intends to continue that trend with what automotive critics hail as the most comfortable, standard feature packed compact utility in a very competitive segment, headlined by Honda, Toyota, Ford and Nissan, in that order.
I’ve driven the competition in this segment, and while a close call in total package value, hand the win to Honda CR-V for drive and ride comfort, overall road handling and proper placement of near intuitive driver to vehicle control connectivity.
With 2017 comes turbocharging, a roomier cabin and exceptional styling.
I recently had the opportunity to drive Honda’s 5th generation CR-V. And although we’re held under press embargo as to drive and ride impressions, I can safely state that 2017 Honda CR-V’s interior is larger were it counts. Furthermore, seating is improved, and the addition of a turbocharged engine option for CR-V, offers buyers a measurable drive performance uptick. 2016 was a great year for Honda CR-V.
Manufactured in the U.S., greater comfort and fuel efficiency
In the words of Honda: “Our Ohio team did an incredible job as the lead plant for the global launch of this new Honda CR-V and we look forward to sharing this world-class 2017 CR-V with our customers in the U.S., North America and around the world.” said Tim Myers, plant manager at the East Liberty Auto Plant. “With a first-ever available turbocharged engine that is also built right here in Ohio we believe the CR-V will continue to set the standard for compact SUVs.”1
As the global lead plant for this fifth-generation CRV, ELP will not only be the first plant in the world to launch the new CR-V into mass production, but has also developed the processes and technologies that will form the manufacturing base for CR-V production at ten Honda plants globally. This is the first time a Honda plant in the U.S. has led the mass production efforts for a global model.
In addition to the East Liberty Plant, CR-V also will be built at Honda of Canada Mfg. in Alliston, Ont. and Honda Manufacturing of Indiana in Greensburg, Ind. In a CR-V first, the new 1.5-liter turbocharged engine is built exclusively at the Honda engine plant in Anna, Ohio.
Expanded CR-V production
Honda predicts: 2017 CR-V sales may surpass Accord and Civic, the #1 and #2 selling sedans (retail) in North America. Look for my initial drive review of the frame up reinvented CR-V here November 30. Cheers!
