Chris Woodyard

USA TODAY

Correction: Volkswagen's plant in New Stanton, Pa., opened in 1978 and closed in 1988, was the first foreign-owned auto assembly plant in the U.S. Honda opened the first Japanese-owned car plant.

When Honda opened an auto plant in Marysville, Ohio, in 1982, some doubted whether American workers could make Accords as solidly as they were built in Japan.

On Thursday, Honda hits the 10-million mark on Accords in the U.S., when the special 10 millionth rolls off the line.

While Marysville plant was just the second foreign-owned auto plant in the U.S. -- and first Japanese owned-plant -- all the biggest foreign makers and most of the smaller brands -- even German luxury brands -- have factories in the U.S. today

Overall, Honda has made 20 million vehicles in the U.S. among all of its plants.

"We are deeply aware that our ability to reach this milestone results from the trust that 20 million customers have placed in our products, and we appreciate their support over the past three decades," said Hidenobu Iwata, CEO of Honda of America Manufacturing.

Honda is using its big milestone Thursday to highlight some of its more astounding statistics about how its manufacturing base in the U.S. has grown.

Last year its U.S. plants made a company-record 1.3 million vehicles, up 7.4% from 2012.

And some 94% of the vehicles that Honda sold in the U.S. last year were made in North America. A new plant in Mexico building the redone Honda Fit, the smallest model it sells in the U.S., should increase the figure even more this year. The previous Fit was made in Japan.

The models made in the U.S. now include the Honda Civic, Accord, Crosstour, CR-V, Pilot, Odyssey and Ridgeline. Acura vehicles include ILX, TL, RDX and MDX.