‘(00) visits PT Honda Prospect Motor in Jakarta to check out the assembly plant of the upcoming Honda Freed

MPV’s may not be our thing, in fact this is probably the first time we have featured an MPV on our pages, but be it our thing or not, we never pass up an opportunity for a track drive. So how does the Freed fit in into the enthusiasts market that we have so religiously catered for all these years? Enthusiasts, like every other person, sadly do have to get married, have kids and serve the greater good of humanity, that is to spread the genes of enthusiasts for future generations. And that’s where the Honda Freed comes in.

With seating for up to seven people and a cargo capacity of up to 672 liters, the Freed is the ideal vehicle for transporting junior enthusiasts, their creators and their luggage. The interior, according to Honda, has been designed to meet a new concept called the Open Café Interior. Large windows give it a spacious feel and the ‘Wide Open Table’ dash allows passengers to place their belongings without getting into the way of the air-bags in case of an emergency. It’s this kind of nifty thinking that places Honda at the forefront of vehicle design. Even the size of the A-pillar has been shrunk to minimize blind spots without compromising on safety.

But why am I going on about the Honda Freed considering the MPV isn’t even offered in our local Malaysian market? Well, that’s about to change actually, Honda Malaysia will soon be introducing the Freed to Malaysians but before that the Japanese automaker flew a group of journalists to Jakarta, Indonesia to visit the PT Honda Prospect Motor assembly plant to understand the Freed a little better and to squash any suspicion of cars that are built in Indonesia being of questionable quality.

The assembly plant is situated about an hour out of Jakarta and churns out about 50,000 Honda vehicles annually. Here the Freed is assembled from mere pieces of aluminium and metal to one of the best selling MPV’s in Indonesia. In fact, it’s not only an assembly plant it also does metal stamping for various models including the Jazz which is assembled in Thailand. Since the plant is owned and managed by Honda, everything is done according to Honda’s strict work and assembly code. There’s even a 1.5km test track where we got to put the Freed through the usual phases – emergency braking, uneven surfaces, a slalom course, high speed handling, slow and tight corners to test the balance of the car and the best part, fast corners.

So we got there at about half past ten in the morning, and immediately got ushered in for the product presentation. Judging from the excitement in the voice of the speaker, the Freed really is an important vehicle for Honda in Indonesia, it has done immensely well and the same is expected of it once it’s launched here in Malaysia. There’s no doubt that it will be well-received but there are some niggling issues that we highlighted to Honda, I’ll get to that later.

After the passion-packed presentation, we were given a tour of the assembly plant. Everything arrives here in thousands of different pieces and thousands of different workers work two different shifts to ensure that the assembly line never stops churning out Indonesia’s favourite MPV. I stood awe-struck at the assembly plant, it’s one thing to be passionate about cars but it’s a different thing to watch them being assembled from scratch, it had me wishing I had taken up Ferrari’s offer to visit their plant in Maranello last year (I was busy visiting the moon, but I did catch it on National Geographic though).

At the PT Honda Prospect Motor plant, combinations of humans and robots have been working in unison for the past seven years. Robots are automated to weld and screw to ensure consistency and quality. Honda has spared no expense to ensure that its staff is able to live up to the expectations of its customers, but routine tasks can be monotonous,  distracting and tiring so robots are used in areas that require consistency and accuracy.

But it’s the quality of its products that is most important when it comes to a manufacturer of Honda’s stature, and robots don’t have the same feel and keen eye that humans do, so when everything has been assembled and is ready to go, the Freed is brought to its quality inspection point. Here a number of staff run their hands, poke and prod to find inconsistency in the metal and other fittings. They even attach equipment to ensure that all emissions are met and this also ensures that the engine is working suitably.

After the quality inspection, the now complete Freed goes through a water test to make sure there are no leakages and other potentially devastating problems. This is essentially the last phase in the build process, after this each completed Freed is tested on track by a skilled employee to make certain that everything works in unison.

Once all that is done and the Freed passes all inspections, the car is now ready for local and export market.

After the plant tour, it was our turn to get behind the wheel of the Freed and put it through its phases, look out for part two of our trip to PT Honda Prospect Motor.