Honda is hot for hybrids as consumer demand for the power train has grown amid high gas prices.

The Japanese automaker announced plans to spend $3 billion to build an Ohio plant to help increase hybrid vehicle production capacity in the state by 250%. It said the project would boost its overall annual U.S. production to 1.3 million units.

The added factory, at an annual capacity of 240,000 vehicles, will sit between two existing manufacturing plants and is scheduled to start production in 2029. It will be Honda’s ninth in the U.S.

"As Honda approaches 50 years of building products close to our customers in America, we are making one of the most significant commitments in our history to position Honda for the next 50 years,” said American Honda Executive Vice President Bob Nelson.

The Trump administration has used trade tariffs to push automakers to shift production to the U.S., and multiple brands have announced manufacturing expansion plans here, pointing out their commitment to building where they sell.

Honda said in May that it plans to launch 15 Honda and Acura hybrid models across the world by 2030, North America being the primary market for them.

It said the new Ohio plant, along with investments in plants in Alabama, Georgia and Canada, will “create an integrated manufacturing network for future hybrid and gasoline-powered vehicles, connecting vehicle assembly with expanded engine and hybrid system production.”

As consumer demand has ridden waves, first of electrification fever, however gradual, back to gas-powered vehicles, and now pushing hard toward hybrids, automakers have learned their production plans must adjust with the market. Honda expressed that adaptability in announcing the new plant.

“While supporting growing demand for hybrid and gasoline-powered vehicles, the plant will provide Honda with the flexibility to adapt production as customer demand, market conditions and electrification trends evolve.”

In addition to the Ohio project for hybrids, Honda said it will increase production at an Alabama plant for a new V6 hybrid engine, along with adapting an existing Ohio transmission factory to support production of two next-generation hybrid systems. At a Georgia plant, it plans production of next-generation hybrid systems for larger vehicles.