[hondaboy]

Many people are speculating that once the Alabama factory is up to full capacity, the increased supply will cause prices to drop below MSRP. I'm not complaining about paying MSRP, but if we could get ours lower by waiting, we would.

1. Can anyone tell me how many Odysseys are produced in Canada annually now? How many more units will the Alabama plant be able to produce and when will they be at full capacity?

2. Many of you seem to have reservations about buying one built by the Alabama plant. Can someone explain this to me? Is the consensus that we have more confidence in Canadian workers than in Americans? Kind of a sad statement, don't you think? No offense to you Canadians.

 

[Man314]

I think most of the reservations in owning one of the first vehicles out of the Alabama plant has less to do with Canadian vs. American workers as it does start-up "glitches." I work for a supplier company in the automotive industry and it is quite usual to have issues until the plant gets ramped up to full production and workers are fully trained.

Even if Honda does a good job at their training, there may be issues if they resource their purchased components to more local suppliers.

I'd be quite proud to buy one from the Alabama plant after the first few months of production (since I live in Georgia, the transit time would also be shorter!). Not knowing exactly when that plant would come on line, I went ahead and ordered one from Canada.

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Future Owner '02 MB EXL NAV
Current Owner '96 R Dodge GC ES

 

[Maugham]

I too wonder about the new plant situation.

Could it be that vehicles coming out of there will have a higher level of Quality Assurance?

Maybe the workers are not burnt out.

They might not have contracted UAW-attitude yet and are possibly still glad to have their jobs.

Who knows...

 

[Canodyssey]

I wouldn't hold your breath about the price dipping much below MSRP.
The reason is that even with the Alabama plant up and running Honda will be just meeting the demand. This will do away with waiting lists though. Honda is very shrewd in business and looks to keep to keep this van at the top of the game and it's MSRP will look reasonable for what you get.
Honda will never oversupply it's market. It's not good business practice.

As far as Canadian workers... Do you think we shun work and maybe waste time on online forums during the day.

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Timbo

2001 GG LX

"You're only young once but you can be immature all your life!"

 

[ckonarske]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Canodyssey:
As far as Canadian workers... Do you think we shun work and maybe waste time on online forums during the day.

</font>

You may read 'em, but you're not wasting time!

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Chuck
Click here for Ody pics, mods and fixes on FotoTime.

[This message has been edited by ckonarske (edited 10-02-2001).]

 

[Maugham]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Canodyssey:
As far as Canadian workers... Do you think we shun work and maybe waste time on online forums during the day.

</font>

No mention of Canadians in my post, not sure where that came from.

Since some people work nights and/or weekends, or have flexible schedules, posting time is not particularly meaningful to me.

I do apologize for raising the issue of "UAW attitude" (which is country-independent) here in this forum; there are far more appropriate venues for discussing the pros and cons of unions.

Regards,

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Maugham

"I plan to live forever. So far, so good"
'02 RP EX-L due 10/17
'85 Prelude that we'll keep!
'01 Ninja folding aluminum scooter
'00 New Balance Model 658 Shoes w/ '01 White Laces

 

[rainmanx]

I believe total annual production of Odysseys is approx 120k. I seen this figure but not sure if its just for United States sales.

Also, the Canadian plant will stop producing Odysseys once Alabama plants goes into full production. This will happen around February next year.

Third, at that point, the Canadian plant will just make MDX's and Honda's version of the MDX. My guess is a $30K Honda SUV. Honda will stop selling Passports (finally). I had one and sure glad I got rid of it for the Odyssey. Paid 23K for the Passport and sold it for less than 8K with less than 60K miles.