Japanese automaker Honda is putting $15 billion into their Ontario operations with a new electric vehicle manufacturing plant in Alliston, Ont. with a joint $5 billion coming from the federal and Ontario governments.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Honda executives made the announcement at the Alliston plant Thursday morning.
“This is a historic day with the largest auto investment in Canada’s history,” Trudeau said at the start of his remarks Thursday morning.
“With this investment we will be creating Canada’s first electric vehicle supply chain from start to finish.”
The $15 billion project also includes plans to retool the existing Alliston plant to make solely electric vehicles, build a battery plant nearby and two battery part facilities elsewhere in Ontario.
“The world is changing rapidly and we must work toward the allies in carbon neutrality to sustain the global environment. Honda is making steady progress toward our goal to make battery electric and electric vehicles represent 100 per cent of our vehicle sales by 2040,” Honda global CEO Toshihiro Mibe said.
Canada’s target is to have all newly sold consumer vehicles be emission free by 2035.
Mibe added that North America is their largest market and he sees Canada and the United States as central to the company’s future plans. Honda’s goal is to have the electric vehicle facility up and running in 2028, with an annual production target of up to 240,000 vehicles.
The company says this will create 1,000 more jobs, in addition to the 4,200 that already exist at the assembly plant. Trudeau added there will be additional construction jobs associated with the project.
Unlike previous electric vehicle deals inked by Ottawa and Ontario, this
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