Honda has today confirmed that it will restructure its global manufacturing network and shut its UK manufacturing facilities at Swindon in 2021. It will also cease manufacturing in Turkey and look to consolidate future production at plants in North America and Japan. The news of the planned Swindon closure broke yesterday.
The company said the restructure comes as ‘Honda accelerates its commitment to electrified cars, in response to the unprecedented changes in the global automotive industry’. It said the ‘significant challenges of electrification will see Honda revise its global manufacturing operations, and focus activity in regions where it expects to have high production volumes’.
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Honda said it will close the Swindon vehicle manufacturing plant in the UK in 2021, at the end of the current model’s (Civic hatchback) production lifecycle. The plant currently produces 150,000 cars per year, and employs approximately 3,500 people.
The restructure will also involve Honda’s automobile operations in Turkey. Honda Turkiye A.S. currently produces 38,000 units per year. The company will cease manufacturing current Civic sedan model in 2021 and ‘intends to continue its business operations’ and will ‘continue to hold constructive dialogue with Turkish stakeholders during this period’.
Katsushi Inoue, Chief Officer for European Regional Operations, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., and President, Honda Motor Europe 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.”
Honda’s European HQ will continue to be located in the UK.
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