Honda Celebrates 40 Years of ATVs, Announces It's Going Electric

Honda is celebrating 40 years of powersports manufacturing in its North Carolina facility. An additional investment of $21.5 million beefs up the factory with new painting and welding facilities. NCM now also takes over the entirety of Honda's ATV manufacturing in the US, with the South Carolina factory focusing solely on side-by-sides. Honda also announced that it will be developing and manufacturing electric powersports products in NCM.

It’s a good time for Honda and its US-based manufacturing initiatives, as it celebrates 40 years of production in its North Carolina factory. Since opening its doors back in 1984, NCM has grown into a massive 650,000-square-foot facility amounting to about $416.5 million.

In the past 40 years, NCM has manufactured more than 50 million products, consisting of both complete ATVs and UTVs, as well as spare parts and components. And just recently, it upgraded its factory, investing an additional $21.5 million in new welding and painting facilities, among other things.

NCM recently held a ceremony to celebrate the milestone and to inaugurate the plant’s new painting and welding facilities. During the ceremony, NCM president and CEO Kazuhiro Takizawa, and executive vice president of American Honda Motor Bob Nelson joined NCM associates and guests to officially launch the new operations at the facility.

Apart from sporting shiny new painting and welding equipment, Honda’s North Carolina plant will also take over the entirety of Honda’s ATV manufacturing from its South Carolina plant (SCM). With that, SCM will now focus solely on producing side-by-sides for the US market.

At present, NCM manufactures popular Honda models such as the FourTrax and TRX ATVs. But it has an eye to the future, too, as Honda also announced that it will be developing and producing electric ATVs in NCM.

This was confirmed in a statement by Honda Powersports and Products vice president Mark Kohls. “Our decision to make North Carolina the home for Honda ATVs today and our electrified powersports and power equipment products of tomorrow is based on the 40-year commitment of Honda associates in the Tar Heel State to build quality Honda products for our customers," he said.

The powersports industry has seen a massive influx of EVs in recent years. From electric dirtbikes, to electric quads and side-by-sides, it’s clear that electrification brings quite a few benefits to the table.

Perhaps the most important of all is that EV off-roaders address some long-standing issues that have plagued ICE-powered off-roaders, such as noise pollution and the risk of fires. This is particularly true in remote, and isolated off-road environments, or those in close proximity to residential areas. And today’s crop of silent EV off-roaders promises to make these things a thing of the past.