Honda Motor Co. is bringing output of the Civic sedan back home after seven years, betting buoyant overseas demand for the model would help drive sales in Japan and allow the automaker to shake off its domestic image as a maker of only minivans and compacts.
Allocating manufacturing capacity for the Civic in Japan may also enable Honda to free up production capacity in the United States, where the market for sedans is shrinking in favor of crossovers, at a time when U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is pushing automakers to make more light vehicles in the country.
