Indiana, Ohio try to lure suppliers for Honda plant

Associated Press

GREENSBURG, Ind. — Economic development officials in Indiana and Ohio who competed for a $550 million auto assembly plant that Honda Motor Co. announced in June would be built in southeastern Indiana are now engaged in another battle.

The two states are vying to attract auto suppliers that would make parts for the Greensburg plant, which will employ 2,000 workers and eventually produce 200,000 vehicles annually.
Honda plans to spend $1.5 billion each year to provide resources to that plant.
Indiana Commerce Secretary Mickey Maurer said he and Gov. Mitch Daniels are eager for Indiana to beat out Ohio in this next round of Honda-related growth.
"We're going to be very aggressive," Maurer told The Indianapolis Star for a Sunday story.
Ohio has been Honda's U.S. manufacturing home since 1982, and it now operates an 11,000-worker car-making hub in west-central Ohio.
A group of 150 Honda suppliers employ 41,000 in Ohio — 20,000 of them dedicated to Honda parts. Nationwide, there are 525 companies in Honda's supply chain, and Indiana has 40 of those.
Economic incentives by state and local governments could play a larger role than usual in deciding which companies will supply Honda's Greensburg plant because potential suppliers could be just over the Indiana state line in Ohio and still be close enough to the plant.
Greensburg, located about 50 miles southeast of Indianapolis, is just 40 miles from the Ohio state line on Interstate 74. And, because most Honda suppliers in Ohio are in that state's western half, many could serve the plant in Greensburg without moving at all.
The fight over suppliers began last month when Ohio announced zero-percent loans for any auto supplier that expands. The program isn't limited to Honda suppliers, but Honda's new plant prompted the program, said Ohio Lt. Gov. Bruce Johnson.
Ohio also held briefings for Honda suppliers, offering the help of multiple state agencies to pull off quick expansions.
But Indiana is fighting back. Hoosier officials are pitching Indiana as an ideal place for suppliers to locate if they want to serve Indiana's multiple Japanese auto companies — Honda's Greensburg plant, the Toyota plant near Evansville and the Subaru-Toyota plant in Lafayette.

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