Honda to cease building Ridgeline pickup at Lincoln Facility

Honda's Talladega County plant will cease production of the Ridgeline pickup this summer, as part of a previously-announced plan to temporarily shelve the model.  The 4,000-worker factory in Lincoln is the sole production source of the pickup, which was introduced in 2005 and has won numerous awards for design and quality. An all-new Ridgeline is expected to be available within two years, and the Alabama plant is expected to produce it. The plant will continue to produce the Odyssey minivan, Pilot SUV and Acura MDX SUV.  The Japanese automaker also informed employees that the plant will return to a traditional schedule of five, eight-hour days per week, starting June 5.  In January 2013, the company switched to a schedule of four, 10-hour days per week, saying the move would help meet growing demand by leaving Fridays open for overtime, in addition to the weekends.  The move back is based largely on maintenance needs and not a shift in demand. The traditional schedule allowed more time to service equipment in between shifts. Also, the plant's capacity has increased due to new investment. In the past three years, Honda has announced more than 450 new jobs and more than $508 million in new investments in its Alabama operations.