How it is going to leverage manufacturing to advantage
By Gary S. Vasilash
Ostensibly the briefing was to see up-close-and-personal the Acura Performance EV Concept which had only otherwise been shown during Monterey Car Week.
Who doesn’t want to see what is likely to be very similar to the electric vehicle that is going to go into production in Ohio in late 2025?
Two points about the concept:
- It is a concept vehicle, something that is becoming less and less common in the industry today—because of the time, effort, energy, and investment made in these full-scale models. Sure, there could be the argument made that this can all be done digitally. But Honda and Acura have those digital tools, too, and there is something to be said for a physical model.
- Dave Marek, who is executive advisor for Design for Honda R&D and Global Honda (which essentially means he’s the go-to guy for design considerations across the company), points out that Honda and Acura typically hew rather closely to their concepts when it comes to production vehicles, so the Acura Performance EV Concept, which he says features “hydrodynamic design” principles—think “superyacht”—may be something rolling off the line at what is being called the “Honda EV Hub.”
Which brings us to the second part of this, which is an explanation of the strategy and the tactics of the EV Hub by Mike Fischer, who is the lead on the project and an executive chief engineer to boot.
First of all, the “Hub” is not a singular place.
Rather, Honda is retooling the Marysville Auto Plant, the East Liberty Auto Plant, and the Anna Engine plant to have the capabilities to produce EVs in a highly efficient manner that produces high quality, consumer-valuable products, processes that are both human- and environmentally-friendly.
But here’s the thing, and not something that Fischer and his colleagues just came up with during the past few months when EV sales softened.
Fischer explains that this “reimagining of Honda manufacturing” is something that is predicated on flexibility.
So they are developing production capability that will allow them to build EVs, hybrids, and ICE-vehicles all on the same line.
(One way this will be accommodated is by having feeder lines that will do the subassemblies for the varying types of vehicles that then feed into the main line.)
Yes, they are developing a dedicated EV platform that will allow various models to be derived from it.
Yes, they are installing 6,000-ton high-pressure diecasting machines—there will be six of them—in the Anna plant to perform “megacasting” of the Intelligent Power Unit (IPU) case; the case houses the battery and associated electronics and functions as part of the vehicle platform.
But what’s notable is that in this undertaking, which the company is investing more than $5-billion and which will serve as a model for Honda facilities around the world, Honda is getting back to its manufacturing roots in essentially taking a clean-sheet approach to the way things are done.
While product certainly matters, the ability to produce those products so that they meet customer demands—cost, quality, availability—is something that Honda has shown itself to be superb at over the years, so while some argue that it is comparatively late to the game in terms of EVs, the flexible manufacturing capability Fischer and his team are developing will more than make up for any delay—and will provide Honda and Acura with the powertrain options that its customers are looking for.
That will put it not merely in the game, but quite possibly ahead of it.
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