Honda has held an opening ceremony for its new “highly-efficient and environmentally-responsible” Thailand plant which will produce the new Honda Civic for Australia.

HONDA’S NEW THAILAND factory has been officially opened today, although the planet has been operational since March 2015, building parts for the new Honda Civic, which launches in Australia next week.

In a short statement, Honda said: “The all-new plant, equipped with Honda’s highly-efficient and environmentally-responsible production technologies, will serve to enhance Honda’s capability to deliver quality products for customers in Thailand and worldwide. The plant also will help strengthen the company’s role as one of Honda’s important automobile production hubs.

“With the concept of ‘delivering quality products with the optimal balance of human craftsmanship and advanced production technologies’, the Prachinburi plant has adopted Honda’s newest production technologies.”

The new plant also offers some clever environmental developments with a ‘water conveyor’ used to cool the plant’s production process and keep the temperature inside the building down. It also features a “skylight roof” which, as the name suggests, makes use of daylight to illuminate the plant floor instead of electricity.

The plant will produce sub-compact and compact models in the future to further enhance its competitiveness for the domestic Thai market and the export.

Takahiro Hachigo, President, CEO and Representative Director of Honda Motor Co., Ltd., said: “Thailand has increased its presence as one of Honda’s production hubs by supplying products and components not only for the home market but also for the world, including ASEAN nations, which drive our global sales growth. I am committed to making certain that the role of Thailand will become even more valuable with the completion of this all-new Prachinburi factory with full advantage of Honda’s newest production technologies.”

Noriaki Abe, Chief Operating Officer for Regional Operations (Asia & Oceania) of Honda Motor Co., Ltd. and President & CEO of Asian Honda Motor Co., Ltd., said: “This new factory’s high production efficiency will help improve the competitiveness of Honda’s products and parts. We plan to produce more sub-compact and compact models at this Prachinburi plant in the future to further improve our competitiveness both in the Thai market and for export and thereby contribute to the Thai economy.”