GREENSBURG - Honda announced it will begin hiring for a limited number of positions for the new $550 million auto plant it is constructing near Greensburg.

Honda will run a series of employment advertisements beginning this week in newspapers throughout Indiana, including the Greensburg Daily News on Wednesday.

Candidates for non-production positions will be sought in the fields of automotive engineering, purchasing, information technology and administration.

The hiring process for production associates, however, will not begin until late this year. In addition to the newspaper advertising, a Website, www.indiana.honda.com, has been established to provide detailed information on the positions.

Honda announced June 28 that it would build a new plant with an annual production capacity of 200,000 vehicles powered by fuel-efficient four-cylinder engines. Site preparation northwest of Greensburg is already under way.

"This is a small but significant first step in hiring Honda associates for our Greensburg plant," said Shane McCoy, Honda's senior manager for the new plant. "This begins an exciting aspect of establishing a Honda manufacturing operation - reaching into communities for future associates who want to learn our unique culture and product-quality processes."

Further, Honda said it’s committed to diversity in all areas of employment.

"We are committed to recruiting candidates from diverse backgrounds to become part of our team," added McCoy. Honda is an equal opportunity employer.

Ultimately, the company plans to hire 2,000 people for the Greensburg plant, with the vast majority to be production associates (everyone employed directly by Honda is called an "associate"). All operations of a full-fledged auto assembly plant will take place within the walls of the Greensburg facility: Stamping, body welding, plastic injection molding, sub-assembly processes, painting and final assembly.

The plant will sit on a 1,700-acre site in Decatur County adjacent to rail lines and Interstate 74. Mass production of a 2009-model vehicle is scheduled to begin in fall 2008. Honda hasn't identified the vehicle to be made, except that it will feature fuel-efficient four-cylinder engines manufactured in Anna, Ohio.

The vast majority of parts for the vehicles will be manufactured by Honda's base of U.S. suppliers. Honda built more than 1.16 million Honda and Acura brand passenger cars and trucks in North America last year, or more than 77 percent of the more than 1.5 million vehicles sold by American Honda in the U.S. in 2006.

Honda began U.S. sales operations in 1959, the company's first overseas subsidiary. Honda began U.S. production operations in 1979.

The new Indiana plant will become Honda's sixth auto assembly plant in North America and one of 17 major plants for Honda in North America. The new facility will help boost Honda's total North American auto production capacity to more than 1.6 million units when it reaches full capacity, grow Honda's employment in North America to more than 37,000 associates, increase North American capital investment to more than $9 billion and increase the annual purchase of more than $17.5 billion in parts and materials from suppliers in North America.

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