Japanese car manufacturer Honda Motors is planning to boost the production of its HR-V models in North America by up to 60 percent. The decision stems from the current boom in terms of demand for the sub-compact crossover segment.

A Honda spokesperson said that the company is planning to expand the current production of its plant located in Guadalajara, Mexico. The boost will commence as early as next year and will add to the current production coming from its other plant in Celaya, Mexico.

Like Us on Facebook

With this new strategy, Honda will be moving the production of the HR-V to a plant that churned out 63,000 CR-V compact crossover units last year. As far as the CR-V production is concerned, the Japanese carmaker will be moving its production to its Greensburg, Indiana plant.

Honda's Celaya plant, which opened in 2014, will cover the production of the HR-V and the Fit hatchback models on the same platform. The plant was able to produce about 100,000 HR-Vs and about 44,000 Fit models last year.

By tapping the production power of its Guadalajara plant, Honda is hoping to meet the growing demand of Honda crossovers and SUVsin the United States.

The Honda HR-V was released in American showrooms in May 2015. Since January of this year, Honda has been able to sell more than 29,000 units, and the demand continues to grow. In the first five months of the year, light trucks are accounted for more than 58 percent of total U.S. car sales.

The exact production volume for the HR-V at Guadalajara and Celaya is unknown. However, Honda confirms that reshuffling its production to different plants is part of the company's realignment strategy in order to soak up excess capacity.

Honda chief executive officer Takahiro Hachigo aims to boost annual production output of its Japan plants to 950,000 units annually, out of which 20 percent will be exported.

TagsHonda, Honda HR-V, HR-V, Honda HR-V production, HR-V model, HR-V production, HR-V models