First Production Civics Roll Off Honda Greensburg Line

GREENSBURG, Ind. -- The first production Honda Civics rolled off the assembly line Thursday at the auto manufacturer's new plant in Greensburg.

The manufacturing facility about 50 miles southeast of Indianapolis will eventually produce 200,000 four-cylinder Honda Civic sedans each year and employ 2,000 workers, said Andrew Stoner, of Honda.

About 900 employees have been working to test production over the past several months at the $550 million plant.

"There was a lot of excitement in the air this morning," Honda Vice President Rick Schostek told 6News' Norman Cox. "Our associates were chomping at the bit to get to this point time and to see that first car roll off the line was a tremendous moment for them."

The plant is currently operating a single shift, but plans to add an additional shift next year.

"With continued high demand for the Honda Civic, we are honored and excited to help meet the needs of our customers in North America," said Yuzo Uenohara, president of Honda Manufacturing of Indiana, in a statement. "Our new Indiana associates are dedicated to building the very best Honda products, with customer satisfaction as our top goal."

Honda announced in 2006 that it planned to build the new plant in Indiana. Ground was broken on the sprawling 1,700-acre facility next to Interstate 74 in March 2007.

Four other states -- Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois -- tried to get Honda to put the new plant in their state.