-By Oriade Ayomide
Renowned car manufacturer Honda has made history by becoming the first Japanese carmaker to become a net exporter of cars from the United States. The company said it exported 108,705 vehicles from its production plants in the US last year while importing 88,537. The statistics cover vehicles wearing the Honda and Acura brand badges.
Honda North America’s executive vice president Rick Schostek called it a milestone that was “30 years in the making”. He said the value of the US-made export vehicles was $2.65bn (£1.6bn). The average value of each vehicle was $24,377 (£14,680).
Honda’s 2013 output was a major shift from a year earlier, when imports to the US stood at around 136,000, against exports of about 74,000. Honda made 1.78 million vehicles in total in North America last year, including a record 1.3 million in the US. According to the company, 95% of Hondas sold in the US last year were made domestically.
