Honda’s Swindon car manufacturing plant to close

In attempt to accelerate Honda’s electrification strategy, it has been confirmed that it’s Swindon car manufacturing plant will close by 2022.

The Japanese manufacturer said that around 3,500 jobs will be lost due to the move.

Chief Officer for European regional operations and president of Honda Motor Europe, Katsushi Inoue, said, “In light of the unprecedented changes that are affecting our industry, it is vital that we accelerate our electrification strategy and restructure our global operations accordingly. As a result, we have had to take this difficult decision to consult our workforce on how we might prepare our manufacturing network for the future. This has not been taken lightly and we deeply regret how unsettling today’s announcement will be for our people.”

Swindon’s production is expected to move to Japan. There were around 150,000 Civics produced at Honda’s UK plant last year.

Greg Clark, UK business secretary described Honda’s plan as a “devastating decision”.

“This news is a particularly bitter blow to the thousands of skilled and dedicated staff who work at the factory, their families and all of those employed in the supply chain.”

Partner Richard Bartlett-Rawlings, partner at RSM, described news of the Honda plant closure as “a dark day for UK manufacturing and those employed at the Swindon plant”

He added: “It is difficult to comment on the announcement without mentioning Brexit and the potential issues it could have within the UK automotive supply chain.”