Honda revs up for rest of decade

Honda Motor Co. said on Wednesday it was close to selecting a Midwestern site for a new $400 million assembly plant that would employ 1,300 jobs, part of a strategy to boost U.S. sales by 300,000 vehicles by 2009.

At least 100,000 of those vehicles will be a new, hybrid-only model that Honda says will be smaller and less expensive than the current Civic. Honda also said it would end production of the Insight, the first U.S. gasoline-electric hybrid, in September.

The company had said on Tuesday it was planning a new U.S. plant, but had declined to offer specifics. Honda refused to say which Midwestern states are in the running for the plant, or say when it would make its decision.
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