As Honda Canada approaches its 15th anniversary in Markham, the Japanese leader in automobiles, motorcycles, power equipment, and more continues to make an impact in our community and across the country. In April 2024, the company announced a $15 billion investment to create a comprehensive electric vehicle value chain in Canada as Honda continues its transition to an all-electric future.
Honda Canada was established in 1969 to sell motorcycles and other power equipment. In 1973, it launched sales of its first car in Canada, the Honda Civic, followed by the Honda Accord in 1976. Ten years later, Honda Canada became the first Japanese auto manufacturer to open a factory in Canada, in Alliston, Ontario.
Anthony M. Ruffolo, assistant vice president of shared services and general counsel for Honda Canada, has been with the company for 11 years. He said it is an exciting time to work at the company as it works to deliver innovative products for consumers and businesses across Canada.
“It's inspiring to be involved in these types of electrification projects because they don't come along every day. These are massive projects with many moving parts. We’re building products that we haven't traditionally built. It’s really exciting and we’re happy to continue to invest in Canada,” Ruffolo said.
While manufacturing is located an hour away in Alliston, Honda Canada’s sales, marketing, and other operations are led by its team in its Markham headquarters. The 53-acre campus includes a 138,000-square-foot head office, an 85,000-square-foot technical centre, and a 226,000-square-foot parts distribution centre. The buildings are LEED-NC (New Construction) Gold certified and were recognized with a Markham Design Excellence Award in 2010. Ruffolo said Markham’s central location has contributed to Honda Canada’s success.
“Being in the GTA is helpful for not only having the infrastructure to get our talent and associates moving, but also on the operations side. We have our parts facility here in Markham and from a logistics perspective, it is crucial to helping move parts to dealers and facilities across the country,” he said.
Markham’s proximity to leading post-secondary institutions has also helped Honda Canada attract talented associates to its team. Ruffolo said Honda Canada has partnered with several schools throughout the area, including Toronto Metropolitan University, the University of Waterloo, Georgian College, the University of Toronto, and Ontario Tech University.
“We've tried to cast a wide net in terms of the institutions that we work with. Our corporate student program has expanded, and we’ve worked to improve our partnerships by being proactive in recruitment,” he said.
That new talent will be critical to helping Honda Canada and Honda globally with what the company calls its second founding.
“This shift to battery electric vehicles and electrified products is huge for the industry and for us. It’s a complete departure from what Honda has built globally over the last 75 plus years. It can be daunting on the one hand, but overall, it is extremely exciting because there is so much opportunity to rethink our business, how we build products, and how we sell products,” Ruffolo said. “There's a lot of opportunity to really bring forward ideas to tackle these new realities that we're facing. We have to challenge the old processes and figure out how we move forward.”
