Tokyo, Japan – Honda Motor Company has announced plans to build a new automobile transmission plant within its Hamamatsu factory in Japan, to meet growing global demand for automatic and continuously variable transmissions.

The new plant will use a portion of the factory site currently occupied by a motorcycle plant, which will be transferred to the company’s plant in Kumamoto. With the new plant, annual automatic and CVT production capacity at the Hamamatsu factory will increase from the current 700,000 units to 1.1 million units. The new plant is scheduled to become operational within 2010.

The company said that it is improving production efficiency with the new plant, including a reorganization of transmission gear production that is currently spread around the factory, and a synchronous production system for machining. A new flexible production line will be installed, capable of adjusting production of automatic and CVT units as needed.

As the lead plant of Honda’s global transmission production, the Hamamatsu factory will continue to enhance coordination with other automatic transmission plants in the U.S., Indonesia and China. It will also be designed to address environmental issues, including a “green” rooftop, use of rainwater and adoption of natural lighting.