Honda to shut UK car assembly in the latest blow to Britain’s shrinking automotive industry
- Honda plans to close its plant in Swindon, about 80 miles west of London, where 3,500 workers are employed
- The plant makes Honda’s Civic hatchback
Honda Motor plans to close its factory in the UK in the biggest blow yet to the British auto industry already buckling under thousands of job cuts and the loss of key models in the run-up to Brexit.
The site in Swindon, about 80 miles west of London, is the nation’s fourth-largest automotive plant and employs about 3,500 workers where the Honda Civic hatchback is made.
The UK has long been a Japanese hub for European auto production, with Honda, Nissan Motor and Toyota Motor owning three of the country’s six largest car-making factories. That’s quickly unravelled, with Nissan this month reneging on plans to built the X-Trail sport utility vehicle in Sunderland – partly due to the unresolved status of EU-UK trade after Brexit.
Infographics: Global carmakers and their venture partners in China
UK-made products also risk being disadvantaged by a new treaty that will gradually eliminate tariffs on Japanese imports to the EU, though Tomlinson, a pro-Brexit Tory, said the divorce wasn’t a factor in Honda’s move.