Production of 2023 CR-V underway at Alliston Honda plant

Canada's first production of Honda CR-V Hybrids is underway in Alliston.

"We like to build things in Canada. We like to build a vehicle as important as it is for us for Canadians by Canadians," said Jean Marc Leclerc, Honda Canada Inc. president and CEO.

Honda of Canada Manufacturing in Alliston has been designated as the global lead plant for manufacturing Honda's new CR-V Hybrid and the North American lead plant for the CR-V, which, combined with the Civic, makes up 70 per cent of Honda's Canadian sales.

Its billion-dollar investment, which includes more than $250 million from the provincial and federal government for upgrades to the plant made earlier this year, is starting to bear fruit.

"The investment that we put forward into our tooling, our equipment, any plant changes, that helps support that progress, we'll call it," said Jeff Hansen, CR-V North American Engineering project leader.

The announcement is good news for employment in the area after a rough stretch for the auto industry.

"We have been hiring, and with adding the CRV Hybrid, we've actually increased the number of jobs required to build the car, so I think that's a big positive benefit to the overall area," said Hansen.

The development of this new hybrid CRV is part of Honda's strategy to progress toward electric vehicles.

"Not every customer is really ready to move to an EV, or the infrastructure is ready, so we think the hybrid is a fantastic stepping stone, and this product will perform," Leclerc said.

Honda believes this model can be a source of pride for Canadians. Saying this was successful because of the people here.

"It's really heavy Canadian influenced both right from the design step to the final product," Leclerc said.

The team at the Alliston plant believes their work on this project has demonstrated to Honda that the staff are capable of developing a model and can attract more significant projects in the future.