After 2025, the Honda plant that makes valves for VTEC engines will be no more

Honda will be closing down its Tochigi Powertrain Unit factory that makes engine parts by 2025, said the company today in a brief press statement.

Honda says the move is necessary for the company to adapt to the rapidly changing environmental conditions in the automotive industry. It added that expansion in production bases outside of Japan has also led to a decline in demand for supplies from Japan.  

The closure is related to a 2017 review of Honda’s global production capacity vis-à-vis the rapidly changing market conditions.

Honda has since announced that hybrids, battery electric vehicles (BEVs), and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) will contribute 40 percent of its global sales by 2030, and by 2040, all of its cars will be either battery electric or fuel cell electric vehicles.

Also read: Honda to be fully EV by 2040, goodbye VTEC and Type R

The Tochigi Powertrain Unit factory was established in December 1970. It makes engine valves, crankshafts, conrods, CV joints, transmission gears and CVT pulleys, as well 4WD transmission components.

Most of these parts are not required in a battery electric or fuel cell electric vehicle.

When Honda began NCE (New Concept Engine) project in 1984, which culminated in the legendary VTEC engine that was launched in the 1989 Honda Integra, the Tochigi Powertrain Unit was critical in manufacturing the very precise valvetrain components used by high revving VTEC engines.