Honda of South Carolina is moving production of its side-by-side product, 2-4 person four-wheel drive off-road vehicles, from Honda Mexico to its Timmonsville plant next year.
Company officials made the announcement at a news conference Thursday morning.
"That business is growing and moving production from Honda of Mexico to Timmonsville - we're gonna have teriffic quality products, increased capacity. And we're really gonna grow the business and grow our investment here in Timmonsville," said Chuck Boderman, with Honda.
The move will immediately create 65 new jobs.
It will also result in a $27 million investment to renovate Honda's Timmonsville plant for the new production line.
Workers will start manufacturing the 2014 SxS models in the summer of 2013.
Honda opened its Timmonsville facility nearly 14 years ago.
On November 1, the company produced its 2.5 millionth all-terrain vehicle.
Currently, more than 850 people work at Honda of Timmonsville.
The plant began production of the four-wheeled Honda FourTrax ATV model line in 1998.
In fall 2000, operations expanded to add engine production to the plant.
The plant's production line has the capacity to manufacture a quarter of a million vehicles and 310,000 engines per year.
Honda operates nine manufacturing facilities in the US.
Honda officials say majority of the side-by-sides are sold in the US market, so it's more advantageous to build the vehicles where they have the highest market demand.
