Honda will join other U.S. manufacturers Chevrolet, Cadillac, and Jeep in exporting vehicles to Japan.

Honda? Yes, Honda.

The Japan-based automaker produces over 1 million vehicles a year from its four U.S. assembly plants in Ohio, Indiana and Alabama. Honda announced this week that it will beginning exporting the performance-focused, Ohio-made Acura Integra Type S and Alabama-made Honda Passport TrailSport to Japan in the second half of 2026.

The exports come in the wake of Japan easing regulations to make U.S. imports more attractive. Under a bilateral agreement announced last month, Japan’s transport ministry simplified inspections giving fast-track approval for imports that already meet U.S. safety standards. The agreement voids additional, expensive local emissions and noise testing.

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The two Honda models are elite, performance trims of the Integra hatchback and Passport SUV — neither of which is offered in the Japanese market — and will likely sell in small numbers. They are intended to slake the thirst of Japanese enthusiasts who also buy Jeep Wranglers, Cadillacs and Chevrolet Corvettes. Unlike those Detroit-badged exports, however, the Honda products will be made to left-hand-drive, U.S. specifications.

Jeeps, Caddies and ‘Vettes are exported with right-hand drive to Japan (where cars drive on the left-hand side of the road).

“This isn’t the first time Honda has exported from the U.S. to Japan,” said auto analyst Sam Abuelsamid, Telemetry vice president of market research and insights. “By the late 1980s, Honda found that they were getting as good — or better — quality from their Marysville (Ohio) plant where they were building Accords to what they were getting in Japan, so they made the decision to export Accords. They were the first (Japanese automaker) to do that.”

Toyota has also announced its intention to export U.S.-made Camry sedans (Kentucky), Highlander SUVs (Indiana) and Tundra pickup trucks (Texas) to Japan — though it has not given a timeline.

So-called foreign transplant factories opened in the United States in the 1980s as Japan faced import quotas pushed by Congress and the Reagan administration. They were eventually followed by European and Korean transplants as well.

Honda’s decision comes as the Trump administration has renewed pressure for more balanced foreign trade.

Last October, President Donald Trump met in Tokyo with new Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi ahead of the Japanese Mobility Show (similar to the Detroit Auto Show) to talk about tariffs, investment and autos.

The meeting led to asides from Takaichi and Trump suggesting the two countries could import their respective, iconic vehicles. Takaichi welcomed the U.S. president with a hulking Ford F-150 at Tokyo’s Akasaka Palace, while Trump mused that Japan’s tiny, subcompact Kei cars might be attractive to American buyers.

“There are good political reasons right now (for the Japanese) to help appease those in power in Washington,” said Abuelsamid.

Neither F-150s nor Kei cars are likely to be available for export as pickup trucks are too big for Japanese streets (Ford also doesn’t sell in Japan) and Kei cars (80% of Honda’s Japan sales) are unsellable in a U.S. market where the Nissan Versa sedan exited in 2025 as the last subcompact.

Affluent Japanese buyers, on the other hand, have shown a taste for U.S. and European performance badges, and the whip-quick Integra Type S and rugged, all-terrain-tire-shod Passport TrailSport fit the bill.

Sold exclusively with a six-speed manual transmission, Integra Type S is one of the premier hot hatches in the United States. Sharing its chassis with the ferocious Honda Civic Type R (which Honda races in the US IMSA series), Type S features a class-leading 320 horsepower, powerful Brembo brakes and sticky, high-performance Michelin tires. Priced at $55k for the U.S. market, Type S includes premium features like heated seats, head-up display and wireless phone charger.

It will be the first Acura — a brand crated for the U.S. luxury market — to be exported to Japan.

“Building Acura models in America for the past 30 years has been a source of immense pride, and now exporting the American-built Integra Type S to Japan takes that pride to a new level," said Jun Jayaraman, senior vice president of the Manufacturing Management Center at Honda Development & Manufacturing of America.

If Type S is an on-road hellion, the V6-powered Passport TrailSport is focused on dirt-chewing off-road.

The remade, midsize, 2026 SUV has been a runaway success here since its introduction last year, setting Passport sales records. Honda exhibited the Passport at Tokyo auto shows earlier this year.

In Japan, Honda will sell the top-trim ($54k U.S.) Passport TrailSport Elite model, which includes premium features like torque-vectoring all-wheel drive, skid plates, all-terrain tires and a trail-focused camera system.

Passport will try to appeal to an off-road customer base forged by Jeep, which has Japanese roots dating back to the post-World War II U.S. occupation. The Jeep Willys (precursor to today’s Wrangler) was licensed by Mitsubishi for production in 1953.

Today, Jeep is far and away the best-selling U.S. brand in Japan (though at a tiny, 0.7% of market share) with everything from the Wrangler to the electric Avenger on offer. Wrangler is the best-seller and is imported primarily from Stellantis’s India production facility while other Jeeps swim over from the United States and Europe.

Honda’s models will be exported with U.S. specs, but Jeep not only tailors its vehicles for the Japanese market with right-hand drive, and exclusive colors and trims.

Corvette began exporting right-hand drive supercars to Japan from its Kentucky assembly plant in 2021. Cadillac has sold the Escalade SUV and Lyriq EV in Japan since 2025.

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