Honda Motor Co., in coordination with American Honda Motor Co., yesterday announced the opening of a Florida office for Honda Marine, at the company’s R&D test facility in Grant-Valkaria, Fla.
A press release said the office brings together Honda global and regional teams in a market-critical hub near U.S. boatbuilders, dealers, customers and real-world operating conditions. By connecting market insight more directly with product planning, rigging development and procurement, application engineering, testing and validation, the new marine office will strengthen support for boatbuilders, accelerate large-outboard and future marine product adoption, and return technical solutions and field support to the market more quickly.
“The Florida Marine Office is a strategic investment in how Honda Marine develops products and supports the people who sell and use them,” Honda Marine director Josh Matthews said in the release. “The Honda Marine strategy continues to focus on disciplined growth — bringing the right technology, dependable performance and a stronger ownership experience to boaters and boatbuilders. By connecting our company’s global engineering expertise with real-world insight from within Florida, we can accelerate rigging and validation work, strengthen our large-outboard capabilities and respond more quickly to the changing needs of the U.S. market.”
Leading the product planning, field engineering and development teams for the new marine office are Go Tanaka and Chad Nere. Sales and service operations for Honda Marine will remain in Alpharetta, Ga.
