Honda close production plant

Honda to close production plant

Slow sales in Europe have forced Honda to reduce production at it's plant in Swindon, up to 340 jobs could unfortunately be cut. Honda have gone down a similar route to that of the US giant manufacturer, Ford.

Last year, the Ford brand closed down a small production plant in Dagenham which was building the commercial giant Ford Transit model.

Honda recently announced that it's Swindon plant will be moving from a three to a two shift pattern due to sales shrinking throughout Europe. The production of the Jazz, Civic, Civic Tourer, CR-V and from next year the Civic Type R will also be united to just one production line from two, until the company see an increase in demand.

Due to the reduced output, Honda Motor Europe will be having a consultation on reducing it's workforce by 340 employees, an official statement said recently. Over the past year, the company hadn't seen the expected growth. With no increase being forecasted over the next few years, the company must scale the manufacturing activity, according to the Senior Vice President of Honda Motor Europe, Ian Howells.

He explained that with the restructuring the company is taking today and the plans for new models, the company is confident in the Swindon Plant for the long term future. The operations at Swindon continue to be the centre for the European car manufacturing activity for Honda.

90% of the vehicles that are manufactured in Swindon are for the European car market and with the car industry in Europe having just had a six year slump, with car sales being their lowest over the past two decades, then Swindon has been hit somewhat harder than most. Globally however, Honda is successful and healthier than ever, with record sales last year of 4.3,000,000.

The company has said that it is committed fully to supporting workers that have been affected by these job cuts and will be offering a voluntary release programme to reduce compulsory redundancy needs.