Honda Motor Co. plans to stop making motorcycles in the United States

DAYTON, Ohio Honda Motor Co. plans to stop making motorcycles in the United States next year and transfer the work to Japan, pulling the plug on its first U.S. plant.

The 330,000-square-foot Marysville, Ohio, plant, built in 1979, turns out large Gold Wing touring and VTX cruiser motorcycles. The work will be shifted to a plant in Japan.

The Ohio plant employs 450 workers. Honda said there will be no layoffs when production ends in spring 2009. The workers will remain with the company, helping produce cars, trucks, engines and parts and filling other jobs at Honda's operations in west-central Ohio, the company said.

"There were a lot of people who felt disappointment," said plant manager Jan Gansheimer, noting that many employees are motorcycle enthusiasts who have spent much of their careers at the plant. "There were some emotional considerations."

But realizing it was a business decision and knowing they would not lose their jobs made it easier to accept, she said.

Last year, the plant produced about 44,000 Gold Wing touring and VTX cruiser bikes.

Ray Riffle, of Pataskala, east of Columbus, has been riding motorcycles for more than 30 years and bought his first Gold Wing motorcycle in May.

"I feel it's a great product, and Americans have done a great job in putting them together," said Riffle, 52. "I hate to see them leave."

Honda said motorcycle production at the Marysville plant and at the Hamamatsu factory in Japan will be consolidated at an expanded motorcycle plant in Kumamoto, Japan, in 2009.

The Japanese plant will be capable of producing up to 600,000 motorcycles a year. Capacity at the Marysville plant is 75,000. What will happen to the plant is uncertain.

"We're exploring all our options," including using the building to make parts or as a warehouse, Honda spokesman Ed Miller said. He called the plant "the seed" for Honda's U.S. operations.

The Motorcycle Industry Council estimates that 1.11 million motorcycles were sold in the United States in 2007, down from 1.19 million in 2006.

Council spokesman Mike Mount said rising energy costs may be one reason for the sales dip, but noted that motorcycle sales steadily increased for 14 years leading up to 2006, the best year for sales in 30 years.

Honda's U.S. market share for large street motorcycles fell in 2007 to 14.2 percent from 15.1 percent a year earlier, according to data released last week by rival Harley-Davidson Inc.

Honda couldn't confirm the figures. Honda says it holds about 25 percent of the U.S. market in sales of motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles and scooters. --Wire Reports -RD>