Honda to build plant in Mexico, to benefit in 2 ways

Despite the disaster in Japan, I'm not sure if this is a good move.

 

Hope the quality is there... My VW Golf taco was a piece of junk... quality wise..

 

Hecho En Mexico! No, gracias!

 

Nooooooooo!

 

it's honda's move for survival cause the japanese government is so f-king stupid they cant get currency and that fukushima nuke plant diaster under control. japan is on it way down into the abyss.... and the sad part is, when you visit there it feels normal (like business as usual) and noone's really panicing. wake up japan!

 

My wife and I owned a few VW/AUDI products over the years and the German made versions were substantially better built than the ones south of our border. Back in 2002 my wife went from a Jetta that had been built down south and had loads of stupid fit and finish issues to a German built Passat that had loads of mechanical issues just like the Audi A4 I had owned a couple years prior The Passat was a better built car than the Jetta but still had issues.
The issues with the Jetta were silly, and solely due to poor QC and fit/finish, stuff like the front door windows collapsing into the doors when it got over 100 outside, a coolant line located such that it actually could get coolant into the dash wiring, etc.

 

These issues also affected German built Golfs. My problem with VW is that they didn't come clean and address these issues. There is a simple fix to the coolant migration issue, but VW never instructed their mechanics to do the fix which is to drill a very very small hole at the top of the fluid container.

 

Lets hope new FITs will have their quality maintained and will not experience the issues described above

 

I have I feeling Honda will be sending their own QC inspectors to Mexico. They will if they know what's good for them anyway lol

Even so, I am still glad mine was 100% built in Japan.

 

I agree about Honda sending their QC inspectors. As FIT has thousands of assembly parts, it is difficult for the QC inspectors to check if all the nuts and bolts are screwed in correctly.. or glue is applied correctly. and the workers are green horns

Previous posters mentioned they saw a difference between made in Germany VW and those made outside Germany.

I think made-in-Japan or made-in-German cars will fetch higher resale value?

 

Fixed that for you kenchan.

 

If this is true for the 2014 model....then I will upgrade to a 2013 Fit and keep it for 10 yrs.

Maybe by then (2023) the world will have awakened.....but I am not holding my breath.

The alternative would be to buy American....not sure I am ready for that.

 

We purchased my wife a 2012 Sport, one of the biggest reason is that it is J Vin....

A Mexican built Honda Fit is a no go and dealbreaker for me... No J Vin, no Thomas...

Guess I'll be buying a 2013 for myself before quality goes into the toilet.

 

It doesn't matter if the badge on the back says Ford, Honda, VW, Chevy, etc. A car built in Mexico will not be owned by my family. We have owned several and the fit and finish and overall build quality on all were so poor that we won't do it again.

The US built Honda's and Ford's are leaders in their categories and have very few problems. Why not build the Fit in the US instead of Mexico?

 

They will maybe have some little issues at the beginning of the production, but if the standards are the same, I don't think that the quality will be too bad. Most Honda are already built in NA, they are cheaper to buy than before, and almost as reliable. The quality of the materials is not as good as before, but it has nothing to do with the country.

But I'd try to buy Canadian instead.

 

While I agree that the "Final Assembly: Japan" on the window sticker of my fit was nice to look at, I wouldn't mind one built in Mexico.

The Mexican assembled VW/Audi issues people complained about are the same whether they were assembled in Germany or Mexico. My 2000 A4 (Germany) had coil packs that were prone to failure just like my 2007 Jetta (Mexico) did. I could go on with similarities there, it just comes with buying a VW/Audi- there will be some glitches.

The parts will still be from Japan and many other makes of Honda (Accords for one) aren't assembled in Japan and seem to do fine.

 

there is no guarantee for that. most j-cars made outside of japan have lots of issues vs ones assembled in japan. people might not hear about it but in the OEM business it is just a given that car assembly plants struggle.

from personal experience ive had more major issues with canadian and US assembled hondas and subaru's (indiana) vs ones made in japan. cars made in japan have issues too, but ive not experienced one that was so major my brand new car had to be in the shop for a frikken entire week for waranty repair.

and euro-cars are a hit or miss. some perform great for the life of the car, some are just crappy all around.

 

This will push my decision on trading in my 2007 Fit for a 2013 made in Japan. I wouldn't trust the first year of production from a new USA plant, from Mexico 3 years minimum. Even then I'd be checking the TSB and recall notices.
If I can't make the finances in time for a 2013, then the next car won't be a Honda. Enough FIT clones to pick from.