LINCOLN, Alabama -- Workers at Honda's Talladega County auto assembly plant produced an estimated 333,531 vehicles this year, a slight decline from the record output achieved in 2012.

The MDX is the first vehicle for Honda's luxury brand produced in Alabama.

Honda's $2 billion state operation also produces Odyssey minivans, Pilot SUVs, Ridgeline pickups and the V-6 engines that power all four models.

The annual unemployment rate in Etowah County has been declining since 2009 and that trend will continue for 2013, according to Mike McCain, executive director of the Gadsden-Etowah Industrial Development Authority.

MOBILE, Alabama - Seven Mobile County mayors met in Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson's 10th floor Government Plaza office Friday morning in an effort to discuss issues in their cities and develop relationships on how to progress as a region.

The private meeting was called by Stimpson and represented the first time some of the mayors had a chance to meet together.

The hour-long session allowed the elected officials to talk about issues facing their communities, get an update on the $600 million Airbus manufacturing plant project, and to learn more about the Coastal Alabama Partnership and how it plans to foster regional partnerships between Mobile and Baldwin counties.

"The major thing we talked about was the need to cooperate, communicate and to work together and to partner and to collaborate," Saraland Mayor Howard Rubenstein said.

Prichard Mayor Troy Ephriam said he felt the undertone of the conversation was about jobs.