JobsOhio offers $237M for new Honda plant in Fayette County

JobsOhio package is more than what Intel received

JobsOhio, Ohio’s private jobs creation arm, has agreed to $237 million in assistance over the next decade for Honda and LG Energy Solution as those companies build and launch a new electric vehicle battery plant in Fayette County.

The incentives package JobsOhio unveiled Wednesday for Honda and LG’s new plant will exceed the JobsOhio aid package Intel is to receive for its Columbus-area project, which amounted to $150 million.

In what state officials say is the biggest economic development project in Fayette County’s history, Honda and LG have agreed to create 2,527 new jobs and more than $140 million in new payroll.

That amounts to 2,200 jobs at the battery plant and 327 new jobs expected through Honda’s retooling of existing plants in Marysville and Honda’s Anna engine plant, about an hour’s drive north of Dayton.

The companies are committing at least $4.2 billion in capital investment, according to the state: $3.5 billion through the battery plant and $700 million through retooling of current plants.

This means that for every dollar of JobsOhio assistance, Honda and LG Energy Solution are investing $17.72, JobsOhio says.

JobsOhio leaders believe Honda’s track record in Ohio since 1979 ― the automaker did not lay off any full-time Ohio workers until the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 — shows the company can be trusted with nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in assistance.

“JobsOhio’s assistance aligns with Honda’s 45 years of growing jobs in Ohio and investing in Ohio’s people and communities, and it is based on Honda and LG Energy Solution meeting their commitments for the next 30 years,” JP Nauseef, JobsOhio president and chief executive, said Wednesday. “This represents 75 years of job creation and investment in Ohio, which will further build out the already vast supply chain across the state, benefitting all Ohioans.”

“As Honda responds to demand for electric vehicles by establishing a new battery factory and thousands of new jobs, they are also retaining thousands of jobs and adding hundreds more as they retool their existing factories to create their EV hub,” Nauseef added. “This is an excellent example of a company reinvesting in its people and operations and a testament to Ohio’s collaborative spirit and proven manufacturing workforce that Honda and LG Energy Solution chose to continue that investment here.”

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