3:32 PM May 16, 2006


Mystery of land sales revealed
By Norm Heikens and JK Wall
jk.wall@indystar.com
May 16, 2006


Attorneys working on behalf of Honda Motor Co. have rounded up at least one parcel of land in southeastern Indiana large enough to accommodate a Honda auto assembly plant that may be considered for North America and could employ thousands of workers.
However, other states are still competing for the plant, Gov. Mitch Daniels said today.
Owners of farmland and houses about four miles east of Greensburg in southeastern Indiana have signed options to sell more than 1,000 acres to an unnamed company. The company’s identity had remained a mystery for weeks until Daniels confirmed today that it is Honda.

Most of the land is contiguous. It also abuts railroad tracks and is within a mile of Interstate 74, offering transportation options for hauling in raw materials and components and shipping out finished cars.

Five landowners contacted by The Star said they had signed options to sell a total of 1,044 acres.

An Indianapolis lawyer representing the company has said it needed at least 1,000 acres for the plant.

Offers from the company were mailed to landowners in at least four locations in southeastern Indiana: the location east of Greensburg; two other sites west of Greensburg and another plot east of Batesville.

But the site east of Greensburg is where attorneys appear to be having the most success assembling a site for the plant.

“We’re going to do all we can” to attract Honda, Daniels said during a noon press conference at the Statehouse. “Honda is one of the world’s most impressive and respected companies, and Indiana will do all it can to compete successfully to be its next home.”

Daniels wouldn’t answer further questions.

Residents in the Greensburg and Batesville area have been buzzing with speculation about the plant since the landowners received letters in early April offering to buy their land. The letters, sent by the Indianapolis law firm of Baker & Daniels on behalf of an unnamed company, said the company would invest at least $200 million and employ 750 — figures reported last month by The Indianapolis Star.

Daniels said today the project would be “significantly larger” than news reports have indicated. Honda assembly plants typically employ 2,000 to 4,000 workers.

Nihon Keizai , a Japanese newspaper, reported this morning that Honda plans a new auto assembly plant in North America, and that it likely would be located close to existing plants in Ohio, Alabama, Canada or Mexico. Greensburg is 165 miles southwest of the Honda plant in Marysville, Ohio.

The Canadian Press today reported that Honda has all but ruled out Canada for the plant, which would likely assemble the Civic or the Fit, a five-door subcompact the firm has been exporting from Japan.

Coupled with a second production line to be built later, the plant eventually will have capacity to produce 300,000 units a year. That would push total North American output to 1.8 million vehicles — about the same as that of larger rival Toyota Motor Corp., Nihon Keizai said. The Japanese newspaper didn’t cite the sources of its information.

Honda spokesman Shigeki Endo declined to comment on the report, saying it was “just speculation.”

But Honda is scheduled to hold a news conference Wednesday on an undisclosed topic. Endo wouldn’t give details of the conference, except to say “several” things would be announced.

“We would like to boost both sales and capacity,” Endo said.

Worldwide, the company sold 3.365 million units last year, and is forecasting sales to rise 9.7 percent to 3.693 million units in the current business year ending March 2007.

But the site east of Greensburg is where attorneys appear to be having the most success assembling a site for the plant.

“We’re going to do all we can” to attract Honda, Daniels said during a noon press conference at the Statehouse.