{"id":2112878,"date":"2026-08-26T14:28:39","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T11:28:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2112878"},"modified":"2026-08-26T14:28:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T11:28:39","slug":"hondas-next-u-s-factory-could-hinge-on-usmca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2112878","title":{"rendered":"Honda&#8217;s Next U.S. Factory Could Hinge On USMCA"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"columns-holder\">\n<div class=\"add-on-google-widget\">\n<div class=\"add-on-google-heading\">Add Jalopnik on Google:<\/div>\n<div class=\"add-on-google-buttons-row\">\n                        <button type=\"button\" class=\"add-on-google-btn\" id=\"preferred-source\">Preferred Source<\/button><br \/>\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/profile.google.com\/cp\/Cg0vZy8xMXBneTRxX2Zw\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"add-on-google-btn\" id=\"google-discover\">Google Discover<\/a>\n                    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"columns-holder \">\n<p>Happy Wednesday! It&#8217;s August 26, 2026, and this is The Morning Shift \u2014 your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. This is where you&#8217;ll find the most important stories that are shaping the way Americans drive and get around.<\/p>\n<p>In this morning&#8217;s edition, we&#8217;re looking at Honda&#8217;s plans for another U.S. plant, and Nissan&#8217;s plans for body-on-frame supremacy. We&#8217;ll also look at Kia&#8217;s tentative union deal, and XPeng&#8217;s lust for robots.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>If you&#8217;d like a recap of the latest auto news sent to your inbox each weekday, you can<\/strong> <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/jalopnik.kit.com\/morning-shift?utm_source=jalopnik&amp;utm_medium=morningshift_article\" target=\"_blank\">sign up for Jalopnik&#8217;s free Morning Shift newsletter here<\/a><\/strong><strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"columns-holder \">\n<p>Honda has long been big on its U.S. manufacturing base. The company even once paid to ship lil ol&#8217; me out to Ohio to show off production of the last NSX Type S. It wants more production capacity in the States, but the company is now saying it&#8217;s unlikely to invest without a signed USMCA agreement. From <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/autos-transportation\/honda-says-it-may-not-build-new-plant-north-america-without-trade-deal-extension-2026-08-25\/\" target=\"_blank\">Reuters<\/a>:\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>WASHINGTON, Aug 25 (Reuters) \u2013 A senior Honda executive said the Japanese automaker might not build an eighth assembly plant in \u200bNorth America unless a key trade deal is extended.<\/p>\n<p>The Trump administration is \u200ccurrently negotiating with Canada and Mexico over the fate of the free trade deal known as USMCA.<\/p>\n<p>Honda Executive Vice President Noriya Kaihara told reporters at a roundtable in Washington the automaker \u200bis close to full production capacity in North America and needs a \u200bnew factory.<\/p>\n<p>However, &#8220;if there is no USMCA agreement in the future, we \u2060may have to change our direction,&#8221; Kaihara said, adding the company will need \u200bto make a decision within a year or two and would like the plant \u200bto be running by around 2030.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Are you telling me that antagonizing our closest trading partners has\u00a0consequences?\u00a0Well, I&#8217;ll be.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"columns-holder \">\n<p>Nissan is reworking its product mix globally, with a particular focus on navigating the U.S. in the wake of tariffs and changing subsidies. Turns out:\u00a0Americans love rugged body-on-frame vehicles, so we&#8217;re getting five of them from Nissan \u2014 all from the same mold, and including a new XTerra. From <a href=\"https:\/\/www.autonews.com\/car-concepts\/future-product\/an-nissan-future-product-0826\/\" target=\"_blank\">Automotive News<\/a>:\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Nissan is recalibrating its U.S. strategy in response to import tariffs, while backing away from an aggressive electric vehicle rollout toward a focus on hybrid body-on-frame utility vehicles.<\/p>\n<p>The Japanese automaker has expanded production in Tennessee and Mississippi, cutting its tariff exposure by more than 60 percent in the past year. This America-first approach has helped fuel demand on key U.S.-built models, including the Rogue, Pathfinder and Frontier.<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, dwindling customer demand and federal incentives for EVs forced Nissan to retrench. The automaker has discontinued the Ariya crossover and canceled several electric models planned for its factory in Canton, Miss.<\/p>\n<p>Nissan instead will repurpose that plant to build a new family of up to five rugged utility models, including a revival of the iconic Xterra SUV nameplate.<\/p>\n<p>Supply chain sources told Automotive News that the body-on-frame lineup would have 70 percent parts commonality, with everything forward of the B-pillar shared among the models.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>I\u00a0just showed my girlfriend the last episode of HBO&#8217;s &#8220;The Dark Wizard&#8221;\u00a0last night, which heavily features a Nissan XTerra. I\u00a0have to say, it made me want one a bit. Nissan, do well with this new one, and we&#8217;ll see if we can make something work.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"columns-holder \">\n<p>Kia workers have been walking off the job recently over union negotiations, particularly surrounding wages and retirement. Now, it seems the former issue has been addressed, and Kia workers seem willing to compromise on the latter. From <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/world-at-work\/kia-south-korean-union-reach-tentative-wage-deal-yonhap-says-2026-08-25\/\" target=\"_blank\">Reuters<\/a>:\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Aug 25 (Reuters) \u2013 Automaker Kia Corp and its South Korean labour union have reached a tentative \u200bwage agreement, the union and company said, \u200caverting partial strikes that had been scheduled to begin on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>The agreement reached on Tuesday will be put to a vote of \u200bunion members on Friday, according to the union. Partial \u200bstrikes scheduled for August 26-28 have now been withdrawn by \u2060the union following the agreement.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We appreciate our employees for \u200btheir dedication and our negotiating teams for their tireless \u200befforts throughout this process, marking the sixth consecutive year the two sides have reached a tentative agreement without a \u200bstrike,&#8221; Kia said in a statement on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>Under \u200bthe tentative agreement, Kia workers would receive a 100,000 won ($72.34) \u200cincrease \u2060in monthly base pay and a performance-related incentive package worth 400% of monthly wages plus 12.7 million won, according to the union.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The retirement age issue was enshrined in law, so it&#8217;s likely something Kia would&#8217;ve needed to lobby for rather than just outright changing. Still, it made for a useful bargaining chip, it seems.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"columns-holder \">\n<p>Tesla has gotten bored of the whole &#8220;selling cars&#8221; thing, and is now pivoting to hotter, newer buzzwords like &#8220;AI&#8221;\u00a0and &#8220;robotics&#8221; and &#8220;a future for white children.&#8221;\u00a0Now the company seems to be inspiring Chinese competitors, as XPeng re-prioritizes its profit estimates to focus on robotics rather than automaking. From the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/business\/autos\/xpeng-bets-robots-will-be-more-profitable-than-its-cars-c946383e?mod=autos_news_article_pos3\" target=\"_blank\">Wall Street Journal<\/a>:\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>XPeng carved out a space in China&#8217;s car market with autonomous driving. But it&#8217;s robots, not vehicles, that could become the company&#8217;s biggest money maker.<\/p>\n<p>Though the U.S.-listed company&#8217;s robotics unit has yet to generate meaningful revenue, XPeng Co-President Brian Gu thinks its margins will eventually eclipse those of the core electric-vehicle business.<\/p>\n<p>Valued at more than $6.3 billion, the unit will start mass producing XPeng&#8217;s humanoid robot this year. Iron, a realistic-looking robot with electronic skin and a bionic spine, could deliver a hardware gross margin of more than 50%, said Gu, who is also vice chairman of the Guangzhou-based company.<\/p>\n<p>That compares with the 12.1% gross margin XPeng&#8217;s vehicle segment recorded in the second quarter.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Once it [Iron] has reached volume production at a steady state, we think it has potential to be more than twice of the BOM [bill of materials] cost,&#8221; Gu said, referring to the amount spent to manufacture a product.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Hey why&#8217;d they give the robot boobs? Why is the subservient humanoid object feminine?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"columns-holder \">\n<div class=\"iframely-embed\">\n<div class=\"iframely-responsive\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.history.com\/this-day-in-history\/august-26\/19th-amendment-adopted\" data-iframely-url=\"\/\/iframely.net\/api\/iframe?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.history.com%2Fthis-day-in-history%2Faugust-26%2F19th-amendment-adopted&amp;key=d07cd6cb69573fb39dd88a1227dc40bc\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>We&#8217;ve had the right to vote for less than half of this country&#8217;s history.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"columns-holder \">\n<p>When we started this segment, I\u00a0really didn&#8217;t expect I&#8217;d have to come up with a fun, snarky way to say &#8220;gas prices are pretty much the same as yesterday&#8221;\u00a0multiple times per week.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"columns-holder \">\n<p>Sometimes that&#8217;s just the vibe.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Add Jalopnik on Google: Preferred Source Google Discover Happy Wednesday! It&#8217;s August 26, 2026, and this is The Morning Shift \u2014 your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. This is where you&#8217;ll find the most important stories that are shaping the way Americans drive and get around. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,247],"class_list":["post-2112878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-jalopnik-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2112878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2112878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2112878\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2112878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2112878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2112878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}