The auxiliary parking lot of Honda’s Auto Development Center (ADC) was transformed into a vast showcase of Honda and Acura’s latest cars, SUVs and Powersports products last week as Honda associates took the opportunity to show college students from around North America what makes the company special.
The showcase was part of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Baja Ohio event, which was led by Honda in partnership with SAE Sept. 7-10 at the Briarcliff motocross track in Nashport, Ohio. The four-day event featured teams from colleges and universities that design, build and compete in their own vehicles. The competitions ranged from endurance races to maneuverability, traction and acceleration challenges.
Students were invited to the ADC before the races for a full day of activities that included tours of the Marysville Auto Plant (MAP), East Liberty Auto Plant (ELP), ADC, the HALO wind tunnel and the Honda Heritage Center museum. Students also could participate in ride-along drives in HART racing vehicles and visit more than 20 booths set up to show students different areas of the company.
“We always participate in SAE Baja, but this is our first chance to host,” said Amy Bechtel, department manager for Honda Talent Management at American Honda. “It is a great showcase of us. The folks at ADC really showed up and provided help. This allowed us to show the students a lot of what we do at Honda and how they can be a part of it.”
Associates from throughout Honda set up tables and volunteered their time to explain their business areas to students. Displays featured everything from design and testing to IT and racing and included associates from Indiana and Alabama, as well as many of the Ohio facilities.
“I knew there would be a lot of cool cars and powersports equipment here, and we were hoping to study those and maybe get some design cues, but I was surprised how many business units were out here to show us what was available,” said Austin Turner, a senior at the University of Maryland. “I was not expecting that many people to be out here to talk to us.”
In all, members from 27 SAE teams made the trip to Raymond, Ohio, for the event, including representatives from as far west as San Diego and north of the border in Montreal, Canada.
“We went on the HART ride-along at TRC (Transportation Research Center),” grinned Casey Savage from Cornell University, who went on the ride with his Cornell teammate Will Gant. “There’s no better recruiting tool than putting you in a race car that is built and run by Honda associates. It’s very cool to see how a company this big operates. I went to every table and talked to as many people as I could to learn about what goes on here. It was very cool to have this experience.”
