Honda CR-V hybrid assembly at Ontario plant to start this summer

Honda Canada Inc. will start building the hybrid version of the CR-V at its Alliston, Ont. campus this summer.

Chief Executive Officer Jean Marc Leclerc said Wednesday the company is currently retooling a portion of Plant 2 at the four million square-foot (370,000 square-metre) assembly site to make way for production midway through the year.

“It required an investment to retrofit the plant to accommodate [the CR-V Hybrid],” Leclerc said in a company-led roundtable, though he would not share how much Honda is spending on the retool.

The first vehicles assembled will be for the 2023 model year.

Honda of Canada Mfg. has built the gasoline version of the CR-V crossover in Alliston since 2012. At neighbouring Plant 1 it assembles the Honda Civic sedan, and it builds four-cylinder engines for the two models at its on-site engine plant. The three facilities collectively employ about 4,200 workers.

Leclerc said adding hybrid production is in response to demand the company expects to increase “pretty drastically” over the next few years. Honda has also built the CR-V Hybrid in Greensburg, Ind. since 2019.

The hybrid shift in Alliston adds the campus to a growing list of Ontario plants with — or soon to have — electrified products. Toyota has been building the RAV4 hybrid in Cambridge, Ont. since 2019, and General Motors is currently retooling its CAMI Assembly Plant in Ingersoll, Ont. to make way for electric commercial van production this spring. Both Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis have also committed to electric or hybrid models at plants in Oakville and Windsor, Ont.

The timeline for the start of mass production of CR-V hybrids in Alliston is set for this summer, but a final date has not been set.

Leclerc would not share planned production figures, but said the plant was being set up to produce a “large number” of hybrids, starting with a gradual ramp up.

“I think we know the growing demand that there is for hybrids out there and we’re going to try to get every one that we can to meet that demand in our dealerships.”