The new Honda Crosstour is being made exclusively at Honda's East Liberty plant.

A 1.9 million square-foot factory is already home to the Element and the CRV and is the site of the latest addition to the Honda lineup - the Crosstour.

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The car is the latest crossover utility vehicle to hit the market and it is based on the popular Accord sedan.

Crosstour features include extra, below-floor cargo space, like an SUV.

"We wanted to give that luxury feel for the person who's buying this, the empty nester," said Brad Gentzler, the Crosstour's team leader.

Gentzler oversees every aspect of the Crosstour, from its initial design to manufacturing.

The new design began three years ago.

Production on the Crosstour started three weeks ago and they went on sale Friday, Strickler reported.

"Each of the 400 separate jobs on the assembly line takes about 55 seconds to complete...each vehicle is finished in about 3 1/2 hours, out the door to a dealership by the end of the day," said John Pleiman, East Liberty plant administrator.

As the Crosstour hit car lots Friday, Honda execs were already planning the next new model.

"I can't give you any info for what's going to happen in the future, unfortunately, but if you know what the customer wants three years from now, you can rest assured we're trying to prepare to meet those customer expectations," Pleiman said.

The Crosstour has a starting price of just under $30,000.

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