Honda Manufacturing of Indiana will invest $40 million to increase production capacity at its Greensburg plant to a total of 250,000 vehicles, with plans to hire approximately 300 new employees.

Added jobs will support existing processes in virtually every major area, including; stamping, welding, painting, plastic injection molding, sub-assembly and final assembly operations.

Honda officials said early next year the Greensburg plant will add production of the Civic Hybrid, Honda's most popular hybrid model in the United States. Indiana was the first Honda plant in North America to build a hybrid vehicle when it started Acura ILX Hybrid production in April.

This latest development follows on the heels the firm adding a second production shift, last fall, that created an estimated 1,000 jobs. Honda's Indiana manufacturing complex produces the popular Civic Sedan and the Civic Natural Gas on the same assembly line with the Acura ILX.

"Our team in Indiana has successfully managed many challenges in its first four years, including the launch of three all-new models and the expansion of our production capacity is a result of their efforts," said Senior Vice President Bob Nelson. "We are excited about these new opportunities for our plant, because it shows that the customer is embracing the products we make here in Indiana."

Since late last year, Honda's seven automobile production plants in North America have been operating at or above their full straight-time capacity, which currently totals 1.63 million vehicles per year.

"Increasing production in Indiana will provide us with increased flexibility to adjust model mix at our other plants in North America," Nelson said, noting that Civic models also are manufactured at Honda of Canada Mfg., in Alliston, Ontario, which is producing the popular CR-V. "All of our plants build multiple models on the same lines, so our ability to adjust between models and among plants allows us to optimize use of our production capacity."

The automaker noted additional capacity at Honda Manufacturing of Indiana also will result in increased purchasing from among more than 200 suppliers that manufacture parts and components for the plant's production, mostly located in the Midwest. In addition, the engines and automatic transmissions for most of the plant's production are manufactured at Honda plants in Ohio.