ALLISTON (Canada), April 25 — Japanese auto giant Honda announced today the largest automotive investment in Canada’s history, worth C$15 billion (RM71 billion), for a massive new EV battery and vehicle assembly plant.

Honda chief executive Toshihiro Mibe told a joint news conference with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other officials that electric vehicles (EVs) will start rolling off the assembly line in 2028.

Once fully operational, the factory will have a production capacity of 240,000 vehicles per year, and a batteries output of 36 GWh per year.

Honda estimates that 1,000 new jobs will be created at the facility, which is to be built next its existing Civic and CR-V assembly plants north of Toronto that already employ 4,200 workers.

"This is a historic day with the largest auto investment in Canada’s history,” Trudeau said.

He touted Ottawa’s efforts to set up "a whole ecosystem” around the production of electric batteries, positioning Canada as an attractive destination for electric vehicle investment, with generous tax incentives, renewable energy access and its rare mineral deposits.

"Because of the choices our government has made over the past few years, Canada now ranks first, globally in Bloomberg’s ranking of lithium-ion battery supply chains,” Trudeau said.

This effort also helped Canada last year attract the "highest per capita foreign direct investment in the G7” and the third most in the world after the United States and Brazil, he said.

In the federal budget last week, Trudeau’s government introduced a new business tax credit, granting companies a 10 per cent rebate on construction costs for new facilities used in key segments of the electric vehicle supply chain.

Canada’s strategy follows that of the neighbouring United States, whose Inflation Reduction Act has provided a host of incentives for green industry.

Since 2021, Honda has made huge outlays as it aggressively pursues its objective of becoming 100 per cent electric in its automobile segment by 2040.

Honda’s new facility in Alliston, Ontario will be the first to tap into Canada’s EV supply chain investment tax credit, and joins recently announced Volkswagen and Stellantis battery plants in Canada. — AFP